The decisions of Mathieu Vernice, the Lyon-Brest referee, were seriously criticized after the first period. The Lyonnais could count themselves lucky not to have conceded a penalty or received a red card.
Ligue 1 and the arbitration controversies, here we go again. During the first half of Lyon-Brest on Sunday evening, an important match for the European places, the decisions of referee Mathieu Vernice were seriously criticized. OL, in these first 45 minutes of the match, were rather polished.
In the 16th minute, first, Steve Mounié’s header in the area was blocked by the hand of Jake O’Brien. The Brestois immediately demanded a penalty, but the VAR found nothing wrong with the decision of the referee, who had not whistled anything. However, the Lyon defender’s hand seemed largely detached.
Caqueret very close to red
In the process, Olympique Lyonnais opened the scoring thanks to Corentin Tolisso, after a free kick generously awarded. Lilian Brassier’s foul on Alexandre Lacazette was not obvious, however it earned the Brest defender a yellow card. The Lyon striker was probably offside at the start. Enough to increase the feeling of injustice a little more for Eric Roy’s men.
Finally, the last contentious situation occurred in added time. On a poorly controlled intervention, Maxence Caqueret put a big foot on Romain Del Castillo. Mathieu Vernice didn’t whistle anything, while the OL midfielder could clearly have received a red card. A decision that once again, the VAR did not find erroneous.
Following this decision, the referee, however, gave a yellow card to Pierre Lees-Melou, who came to show his dissatisfaction. “In this first period, if I’m from Brest, I think I’m a bit angry… crazy refereeing…”, wrote Daniel Riolo on X. Proof that debates on refereeing are eternal.