Roddy Zambrano, the referee in charge of Argentina's Copa America semi-final with Brazil, has broken his silence and questioned why VAR didn't call him to look at some of his decisions. Lionel Messi was one of several Argentine players to express their disdain at being denied two penalties during the match in Belo Horizonte. One of those penalties involved Nicolas Otamendi, who seemed to have been blocked off by Brazil's Arthur Melo at a corner kick.
"Otamendi also went in to challenge, it's not an elbow [from Arthur]," Zambrano told Ecuadorian radio show Super K-800. "VAR looked at it and determined that it was 50/50, they didn't tell me to look at it, they didn't consider to be a clear penalty. In Monday's report, I say that they should've called me [to have a look at it on the pitchside screens]." What's surprising from this declaration is that, some days after the game, VAR referee Leodan Gonzalez said that he'd told Zambrano to have a look at it. Argentina's claims for another penalty when Sergio Aguero went down under the challenge of Dani Alves were rejected by Zambrano. "In the first phase, it's almost a foul on the defender. Why didn't they see the camera from behind?" Zambrano said. After being sent off in the third-place play-off, Lionel Messi claimed that the tournament was fixed for Brazil to win - something that Zambrano denies. "[Messi] dedicates himself to playing and I never had any problems with him," he said. "His declarations surprised me, but everyone has their opinions."
Source: Marca
