Argentinos Juniors manager Nico Diez erupted at VAR following his side's 1-0 defeat to Rosario Central last Sunday. His anger focused on the disallowance of a Tomas Molina goal in the 31st minute for a marginal offside call, a decision he labelled a theft.
The move started with a pass from Nicolás Oroz to Molina, who finished to make it a provisional 1-0. Assistant referee Matías Balmaceda raised his flag and, after a VAR review led by Lucas Novelli, referee Pablo Dóvalo chalked off the goal. Broadcast images showed yellow lines drawn from the shoulders of Molina and defender Gastón Verón, determining the Argentinos forward was slightly ahead.
Diez did not hold back in the post-match press conference. "I believe they are stealing a legitimate goal from us. They call an offside." the manager stated. He criticised the careful search for details imperceptible in real time, arguing they spent five minutes looking for something the on-field referee did not see.
The manager's complaint
The coach expanded his criticism of the video review process. "You have to call what you see, not what you don't see, you shouldn't call it. You have to be transparent," Diez asserted. For him, the freeze frame may have been delayed, captured after the ball had already left Oroz's foot, distorting the actual moment of the pass. "The image they froze is when the ball is already in the air, not when it leaves Nicolás Oroz's foot," the manager explained, insisting that difference of centimetres and thousandths of a second is key and not clear to the human eye.
This controversy adds to the frustration of a team that, according to their boss, was clearly superior in the first half and now carries a five-match winless run. Diez highlighted his team's good performance in the first half and lamented that such a tight decision changed the course of the match. "We were far superior in the first half, we deserved to be winning and a play like that changes everything," he said.
The result leaves Argentinos Juniors with a recent form of zero wins, three draws and two defeats. The winning goal for Rosario Central was scored by I. Ovando in the 42nd minute, assisted by V. Pizarro. Diez's side must now pick themselves up quickly, with their next fixture at home to Tigre on October 3rd.
