Nottingham Forest fans heard the audio of the incident involving Murillo giving away a penalty against Fulham, and it won’t have made them feel any better.
Nuno Espirito Santo has had a rather challenging couple of weeks with numerous cards heading his way, as VAR and refereeing decisions continue to infuriate those involving with Nottingham Forest.
The Portuguese boss was sent off for his reaction to Morgan Gibbs-White being given his marching orders for a second yellow card against Brighton.
However, he didn’t end up sitting out the Fulham clash, and Fabian Hurzeler also got away with it.
But, more controversy was to follow as two incidents involving Murillo and Anthony Elanga against Fulham raised the temperature at the City Ground.
Interestingly, the Premier League have now released the tapes from the Murillo incident, and it makes for interesting hearing.
What VAR told Josh Smith about Murillo’s penalty incident during Nottingham Forest vs Fulham
Murillo stepped on the Achilles of Fulham’s Andreas Pereira whilst not even looking at the ball, which was deemed to be a penalty after a VAR check.
The referee on the day, Josh Smith, admitted he couldn’t see the incident, so called upon VAR to step in and advise him.
Audio has now been released by the Premier League, and it’s slightly frustrating.
Here’s what VAR official John Brooks originally stated when running through the footage.
“He clearly stands on the back of his Achilles. It’s just whether that contact is a penalty, bearing in mind the ball is not under control.
“The ball is going to go to him, it’s a total accident but he has impeded his opponent.
“So the question is whether that contact. I mean he’s clearly flush standing studs on the back of the Achilles.
“I think he’s clearly impeded the opponent and the referee has got no clear view of it, so there’s no referees call here.”
He goes on to walk Josh Smith through the call, explaining what he believes.
“So Josh, I’m going to pause it on the points of contact, and the defender accidentally rakes his studs down the back of the Achilles of the attacker, which would be significantly painful, and the ball is going to him in the dropping zone.”
Nottingham Forest fans will be even more annoyed
VAR deemed it a penalty for two reasons: Andreas Pereira was set to receive the ball in their eyes, and the contact was on the Achilles, which impeded the opponent.
The fact that Pereira was going to receive the ball is a slight overreaction, as the ball was going behind him. You see him make an attempt to jump backwards to try and head the ball.
Of course, the contact is clear and unfortunate, but the fact that they then decided not to award a penalty for the Anthony Elanga incident at the other end is crazy.
Calvin Bassey impeded Elanga by taking his leg before to enable him to have a chance of winning the ball, and the Forest man had it in his possession. This ticks off the two exact reasons why VAR decided to award the Murillo penalty in the first place.
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