For the first time in Spanish football, the dialogue that occurs between referees when the central referee approaches the monitor to review a play has been made public. The audios came to light late this Saturday, but the match in which the aforementioned review occurred took place this Friday, when Sevilla received and lost against Alavés (2-3) at the Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. This is the premiere of a measure agreed between the Federation and LaLiga to “publish the images and audio of the conversations between the field referee and the VAR referee when a review of the play occurs on the field monitor.”
In the 77th minute of this match, referee José Hernández Hernández was called from the VOR room by referee Juan Luis Pulido Santana to review a possible penalty in favor of Sevilla for a foul by Carlos Benavídez on Mariano Díaz. The audio published this Saturday begins with Hernández Hernández receiving a clear message from Pulido Santana: “I recommend that you go see the screen.” “Do you have the images ready?” Responds the central referee to make sure that he is not going to waste time by approaching the monitor, and then exclaims “I'm talking!” and dissuade the players who were beginning to surround him.
A few moments after obtaining confirmation, Hernández Hernández addressed the monitor. On the way he asked for “calm on the bench” with a certain exaltation, and then the verbal exchange began in which both referees commented on the play in question. “You see that he anticipates,” says Pulido Santana from the VOR room, and the central referee asks him for a few more seconds to make the decision: “Let me see who plays the ball, it is key to see who plays the ball.” Then he requests a front angle of the play.
They give him the shot he requested and, after a few seconds, the verdict is made: “The impact is from behind, squarely on the forward, penalty number 23, no card, just a penalty,” he says as if he were speaking to himself. Immediately afterwards he turns around, makes the typical gesture when there is a review and makes his decision known to the entire Pizjuán, who roars in the background upon hearing the sentence: it is a penalty. Hernández Hernández dodges a couple more claims and then places herself in his position to see how Lucas Ocampos tied the match at that moment.
The Spanish Football Federation had announced just a few weeks ago that the VAR audios were going to be made public when the central referee was called from the VOR room to bring the monitor closer. It was expected to happen during one of the two semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup, a competition where there has been dialogue between referees, but where the situation in which the central referee was requested before the monitor had not yet arisen. Finally, the first occasion happened on matchday 20 of LaLiga.
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