‘Clear act of simulation’ – Ex-FIFA ref fumes at Aston Villa controversy as VAR fail to spot referee ‘error’
Aston Villa should not have been awarded a penalty against Maccabi Tel Aviv as Ezri Konsa fooled the referee by going down after a challenge by Elad Madmon.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that VAR should have overturned the decision to award a spot-kick by referee Julian Weinberger.
Aston Villa beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday (6 November) night in the Europa League as goals from Ian Maatsen and Donyell Malen earned them a comfortable win.
A slow first-half only burst into life in added-time as Maatsen opened the scoring with a fine finish from a tight angle following Morgan Rogers‘ incisive through ball.
Villa doubled their lead just before the hour mark as Ezri Konsa won a penalty and Malen converted from the spot, but the visitors will feel aggrieved at the decision that saw the game taken away from them late on.
Ezri Konsa won a dubious penalty against Maccabi Tel Aviv
Villa were pushing for a second goal to put daylight between them and their opponents when Konsa picked up the ball on the right-hand edge of the Maccabi area and skipped past Madmon before going to ground.
Referee Weinberger deliberated over the decision before pointing to the spot after seemingly being directed to by the assistant referee on the touchline closest to the challenge.
Replays showed that, while there was some contact between the two players, Maccabi striker Madmon did little to bring a player of Konsa’s size crashing to floor like he did.
Malen dispatched with aplomb to make it 2-0 as they cruised to victory, but Zarko Lazetic’s men will have felt hard done by after the penalty call.
Keith Hackett slams Villa penalty call after Konsa ‘threw himself’ to the floor
Hackett recently told Football Insider that Amadou Onana should have been sent off against Liverpool in Villa’s previous outing after he grabbed Alexis Mac Allister by the throat.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Konsa penalty situation on Thursday, the former referee insisted that the decision should have been overturned as the England man fooled Weinberger into thinking he had been fouled.
He said: “The referee bought the clear act of simulation. There was contact but not enough for the reaction by (Konsa) who literally threw himself to the ground.
“Why (was there) no VAR intervention to rectify this error? Not a penalty kick for me.”