Marciniak: Beyond the Playing Field
In the world of football, VAR has generated a constant debate about its impact on refereeing decisions. Often, the focus of criticism falls on the main referee on the field, forgetting the influence of the refereeing team behind the screens.
Recently, the name of Marciniak has resonated among Atlético and Barça fans, united by a feeling of grievance. He is remembered for controversial decisions, such as a penalty awarded in favor of Julián Álvarez, although the responsibility for the double touch fell on Kwiatkowski, from the VOR room.
VAR, with its sometimes untimely interventions, creates distortions that lead us to judge the visible referee, without considering the increasingly decisive role of the referee in the VOR room, protected from public view.
An example of this was a penalty awarded that, fortunately, did not influence the final result thanks to the intervention of the rival goalkeeper. Beyond the refereeing controversies, high-level matches have been seen, with outstanding performances from goalkeepers reminiscent of the best versions of Courtois. Intense and hard-fought matches where the effort of the eliminated team is not always rewarded.
