Tottenham player ‘furious’ vs Leeds as former FIFA official reacts to contentious moment
Leeds United’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham was not without controversy.
Leeds were looking to continue their great start to the Premier League campaign, that has seen Daniel Farke‘s side exceed expectations so far.
The visitors took the lead at Elland Road, but Noah Okafor got Leeds back into the contest, with a tap-in after some excellent work from Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, Mohammed Kudus would give Thomas Frank’s side all three points as he struck in the 57th minute, and the Peacocks could not respond, despite their efforts.
Leeds incident leaves Tottenham star raging, former Referee chief speaks out
Leeds’ clash with Tottenham was expected to be at risk from Storm Amy, but it was an inflatable from the stands which caused the controversy.
As Okafor struck the equaliser, there was a ball in the vicinity of Guglielmo Vicario, which left Paul Robinson incensed on world feed commentary.
The ex-Whites ace said: “Vicario is fuming at the referee, he’s trying to say there were two balls on the pitch, and he’s right.”
Keith Hackett does not share the same view as Robinson though, claiming that the incident was not enough to rule out the goal.
Speaking exclusively to MOT Leeds News, he said: “Many years ago at Bramall Lane in a game officiated by Alan Wiley, there were a number of balloons on the pitch when there was a shot on goal.
“The goalkeeper making an attempted save of a balloon rather than the ball.
“In one of our Group Refereeing sessions after the incident, we agreed that first we would not start the game until they were all deflated.
“This situation is very unfortunate, but it was not a distraction, the referee, had he seen the balloon early, could have stopped the game.
“However, in this situation, it did not impact on the goalkeeper, so, the referee rightly allowed the goal to stand.”
As the above image shows, the inflatable was not in the Spurs goalkeeper’s eyeline, so his complaints are not valid.
Hackett is right, Vicario was not distracted in Leeds clash
Hackett is spot on in his assessment, Vicario cannot claim that he was distracted, like he says, the obstacle did not impact him.
Players will obviously look for any excuse to get a goal against them ruled out, and that is exactly what his reaction to the incident was, and nothing more.
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