The joy of Llaneros was the sadness of Unión Magdalena. Those led by Martín Cardetti beat Quindío 2-0, at the Bello Horizonte stadium, while the ‘Samarios’ fell 2-1 with Cúcuta Deportivo, at the General Santander. This series of results led the Villavicencio team to the final of the BetPlay I-2024 Tournament, where they will face Orsomarso.
However, there was one action that could have changed everything. When the 25th minute passed, Lucas Ríos inflated the nets and scored Cucuteño’s first goal, but offside. The central referee and the linesman did not notice and validated the goal. For this reason, after the end of the commitments, reactions came from the awnings of the Unión Magdalena.
At a press conference, the one who spoke and raised his voice was the technical director, Álvaro Hernández Uribe. “It is clearly out of place. We know the difficulty in the tournament due to refereeingdecisions that could not fail, especially in such a crucial match, but hey, we always sought to be above that and we tried,” stated the strategist, in his speech.
But it was not the only one. The captain and representative of Unión Magdalena, Cristian Sención, stated that “I don’t want to delve so deeply into the issue of refereeing. I spoke with the central judge on the court and, sometimes, the answers they give are regrettable. Anyway, that’s it. Everything remains on the playing field. “He and the line judge will know what happened.” There, she showed his annoyance and indignation.
Official Twitter of Unión Magdalena
And, complementing these words from the protagonists, came those from the specialists on the subject. ‘The VAR Central’ published: “IT SHOULD NOT HAVE VALID: Assistant Fabián Orozco let this clear offside pass and validated a goal for Cúcuta. It is the final date in B, but there is no VAR. The worst happened: this goal left Unión Magdalena eliminated from the final“.
Likewise, José Borda, referee analyst, wrote: “GROSS ERROR. In the B game, Cúcuta Deportivo vs. Unión Magdalena, the first goal by Lucas Ríos’ local team was clearly offside and the lineman, Fabián Orozco validated it. Although there is no VAR in this Tournament, nothing justifies the gross mistake that the assistant made in the middle of this match.”
