The central referee of the match between Toluca and Pumas consulted the VAR to make his decision in the 'Inferno'
Luis Enrique Santander became a trend on social media after invalidating the first goal of Pumas in the match against Toluca in matchday 6 of the Guard1anes 2021. The referee reviewed the VAR after Juan Pablo Vigón's goal and decided to invalidate the goal that meant breaking a streak of more than three games without scoring for the blue and gold team.
Immediately, after watching the replays several times, the referee returned to the field and raised his hand to signal an offside by Emanuel Montejano. The capital's players were outraged by the decision, although they maintained their composure in front of the authority of the game.
Fans of Pumas responded with criticism on social media since they didn't believe how their team's goal was disallowed. From insults to memes, the followers of the university team unleashed their frustration against Santander.
Unbelievable that Pumas' goal was disallowed, Santander made a terrible decision and VAR contributed to disallow Pumas' legitimate goal
— Felipe Ramos Rizo (@ramosrizo) February 14, 2021
On the other hand, Felipe Ramos Rizo, former referee and analyst for ESPN, stated that it was a mistake from the referee and that the goal should have counted and been added to the scoreboard to give advantage to his team.
"Unbelievable that Pumas' goal was disallowed. Santander made a terrible decision and VAR contributed to disallow Pumas' legitimate goal," the analyst said in his tweet.
The responses to the analyst only confirmed the fans' disapproval of the decision against Pumas.
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Meanwhile, rule 11 of the game, regarding offside, states that if a player prevents an opponent from going for the ball, offside position will be called.
"Interfering with an opponent's play in any of the following ways:
- Preventing the opponent from playing or being able to play the ball, by obstructing the opponent's line of vision;
- Challenging for the ball;
- Clearly attempting to play a ball which is close to him when this action impacts an opponent;
- Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on an opponent's ability to play the ball.