After seeing his goal incorrectly chalked out for offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, Manchester United Juan Mata could have been forgiven for speaking against the use of the technology but the Spaniard was all for it as he felt it was the need of the hour for football.
“A lot has been said about the goal that I scored and was disallowed by the VAR. It was my first time, a new experience for me (and for almost all of us, actually). The truth is, once you have celebrated the goal you are surprised and disappointed (as you could see on my face), but this time, luckily, that goal was not needed to win,” Mata penned on his blog on Monday.
United beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 in their FA Cup fourth round clash to keep alive their chances of silverware this season, with both goals coming from striker Romelu Lukaku.
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It was the first time VAR had been implemented in a game involving Manchester United as the FA seeks to test the technology in select games before potentially using it in all domestic ties including the Premier League from next season onwards.
“As I said in a few interviews after the game, even if this time it didn’t play in our favour, I think in the future the VAR will be helpful for the referees, who always have a difficult job, and eventually it will bring more justice to football,” the diminutive Spaniard wrote.
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While Mata was in general pro-VAR, he stressed that errors could have far-reaching consequences down the line as he opined, “Given that an unfair call or a wrong one might have significant consequences (sending a team to relegation, having a manager sacked, etc.), I understand that we must try to make the final result as fair as possible, and that’s where I think that a proper use of the VAR can be really helpful”.
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“Technology can help football to be more fair, especially nowadays when it seems that the result is the only thing that matters (we could write a whole book on this subject :-)). I believe, though, that such technology should be restricted to a few particular actions that are crucial in the game (in order to avoid too many interruptions), and especially that the final decision should take less time and be more clear than last Saturday’s,” the 29-year-old midfielder added.