Zlín was the first to throw the verdict in the 75th minute. The ball brushed against the hand of defender Štěpán Chaloupek in the Teplice goal while the score was tied, but a penalty kick was not awarded. “This is not a hand to the body for me. I watched the Champions League and there it’s considered a hand, but in the Czech Republic it’s a bit… I don’t know,” the 59-year-old coach was angry. “I was standing a meter away from it and I’m sure it was a penalty. On other pitches this is whistling,” whispered forward Libor Kozák, whose header led to the whole situation.
In addition, the 33-year-old forward scored two goals in the rest of the match, but both were eventually called off by VAR. The first practically immediately due to being offside, the second with a significant delay due to the fact that, according to the referees, Kozák delivered the ball into the net with his hands. “It was offside, I didn’t feel any hand. But VAR always somehow defends it and moves on. I don’t want to sound whiny, our game wasn’t good, but this is simply a fact,” believes the former striker of Lazio Roma and Aston Villa.
“I’d like to tell you the truth about how I felt, but a football coach can’t do that much here. I know that if I evaluate something, I will then receive a fifty thousand fine,” continued Vrba, still in the same spirit. “So now I’m joking a bit, I’m old, so I can afford it. And today was really fun,” he then made light of the situation with a scathing comment.
Photo: Ondřej Hájek, CTK
Rescue battle between Teplice and Zlín.
The experienced skipper then questioned the overall benefit of VAR. “I told the players in the cabin that twenty years ago, three referees made decisions without a video and managed the situation. Now there are eight of them and the whole thing is getting more and more complicated and unconvincing,” Vrba lamented.
Also because of Zlín’s disallowed goals, the end was really tense, there was even a jostle between the players of both teams in the set-up. “I believe the reason for this is quite clear. This match was crucial for us, we won’t lie that it wasn’t. We are four points down and three games to go. We have to open it in Pardubice and either we can do it or not,” concluded Vrba.
