The use of VAR technology faces another controversy during the Chinese Super League match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shandong Luneng on Sunday.
Nine minutes after Gao Lin broke the deadlock for Evergrande, Ricardo Goulart tapped in from a Deng Hanwen’s cross and would have put the champions 2-0 up.
However, the Brazilian midfielder was given offside after referee Wang Zhe consulted the video assistants.
In the end, the game was sealed with a 1-0 victory for Evergrande with none of the sides scored for the remainder of the match.
The decision of referee Wang Zhe faces backlash from Chinese football supporters. Some people said that only Goulart’s arm was in offside position, so it was harsh to give him offside. Moreover, none of the Evergrande’s players appealed for offside.
VAR has been implemented for a full season for the first time in Chinese Super League. However, the new technology has been received unfavorable opinions from coaches and supporters, mostly because of its disruption to the fluency of the game.
