Verratti uses a trick to pass the ball back to his goal in PSG’s game against Nantes. The goallie passes the ball to him. He walks back with the ball to the edge of the penalty area. Because he can’t pass the ball with his foot he gets down on his knees and heads the ball back to his goalie. Have you ever seen this before? How would you handle the situation?
Look at a video of the match situation first, because that will give you a better idea of what happened.
LOTG about trick to pass the ball
The Laws of the Game are clear: “There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour including if a player: (…) uses a deliberate trick to pass the ball (including from a free kick) to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee etc. to circumvent the Law, whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands.
Correct decision, although a bit late, probably due to unusual situation.
Also, one should notice the call was probably made due to team work of the refereeing team.
In your opinion, why did Veratti play the ball this way?
He thought he found a genius way to do a legal backpass. There was no need for it. He could easily have turned around and pass the ball forward.
I think the LOTG specify that if the goalkeeper then picks up the ball, he should also be yellow-carded.
Hi Tim, nothing in the LOTG about that. It only says that the offender gets a yellow whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands.
It would appear based on the Laws of the Game – Verrati did in fact use trickery and did if fact brought the the spirit of the game into disrepute. A caution was warranted.
The intention of the law is to prevent time being wasted, especially when one team is winning. In this case the referee should call an indirect free kick for the attacking team where the goal keeper touched the ball and give a yellow card to Verrati for USB.
Correction, no IFK because the goal keeper never touched the ball with his hands….
Hi Jose, that’s not correct. The Laws of the Game say literally: “whether or not the goalkeeper touches the ball with the hands”
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