Football players and fans left shocked after ball clearly crosses line … but referee looks away

During a match between Colo Colo and Unión La Calera, football lovers were left perplexed following the referee’s decision not to award a goal after the ball crossed the line.

This controversial event occurred during a Chilean Cup game between both sides. Inside the opening 10 seconds of the match, Colo-Colo defender Alan Saldivia played an abysmal back pass to goalkeeper Fernando de Paul.

The goalkeeper ran towards the ball and tried frantically to retain and disallow it from crossing the line. It eventually did vividly went over the line – by about half a meter. However, de Paul failed to get there quickly and only kicked the ball away after it had crossed the line.

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Sensing it was a goal, some of La Calera’s players started celebrating. Their jubilation was cut short upon realising that referee Víctor Abarzúa hadn’t signaled for a goal and Colo-Colo continued playing.

Drama continued when, before La Calera could even properly complain to the officials, Colo-Colo attacked with the ball and immediately scored to make it 1-0.

In what was a complete obliteration, Colo-Colo went on to win the match 6-1. They thereby reached the regional semifinals, while La Calera concluded the encounter with 10 men.

Are there no VARs in Chile?

The Estadio Monumental – where this match was played – is one of Chile’s stadiums to possess the video assistant referee (VAR). However, it is not used during the earlier rounds of the Chilean Cup.

Roberto Tobar, who is the head of Chile’s refereeing committee, noted the error committed regarding the incident. He said it was committed due to a lack of concentration from the referee and his assistants.

“Regrettably … a quite obvious error was committed by the refereeing team in not sanctioning a legitimate goal for Unión La Calera after an own goal by a defender of Colo-Colo,” he said, according to outlet La Tercera.

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“This type of situation, which very rarely occurs within 10 seconds of the start of a match, means that the referees are not 100% activated and, as a result, are not in an appropriate position to make the best decision.

“Situations that are unexpected are when concentration and a good location take precedence to make a very good decision.”