As tempting as it might be to say something about VAR here, it shouldn’t even be relevant.
Why? Well, just watch…
Trailing 1-0 to an early Wahbi Khazri goal for Renes, Lyon were denied what seemed to everyone in attendance at the Groupama Stadium like the most clear-cut penalty you’re ever likely to see.
With a ball slipped through a defender’s legs by Bertrand Traoré, Nabil Fekir was quite blatantly upended by an attempted tackle from centre back Jérémy Gelin, who made no contact with the ball.
Despite strong appeals from Lyon’s players and fans, the referee decided not to point to the spot. As the ball is thumped out of play for a throw-in by the Rennes defence, the referee then books Fekir and Traore for protesting against his decision to wave play on.
❌ No VAR
❌ No penaltyNabil Fekir goes down in the box… nothing given.
"You'll never see a more blatant penalty in your life than that" 👀 pic.twitter.com/WBmUMHG5Fs
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 11, 2018
To make matters worse for Lyon, Rennes doubled their lead in stoppage time through James Lea Siliki, sealing a 2-0 victory.
A horrendous decision, but by no means the worst example of refereeing we’ve seen from France in recent weeks…
