You Are The Ref: Why was Marco Verratti booked for crafty back pass?
Posted Sunday, January 22, 2017 by Dreamteamfc.com
Referees get a lot of stick. We're not going to get all pious and say that they shouldn't because sometimes they are terrible.
But every now and then we see a bit of officiating that makes us realise we could never do what Mike Dean and co do.
Take this example from PSG's game against Nantes as an example.
Step 1
Marco Verratti (red) receives the ball from goalkeeper Kevin Trapp deep inside his own half.
Step 2
Rather than turn and try and play, Verratti decides to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper and reset.
In order to do this he gets on his hands and knees and nods the ball back to Trapp. Crafty, no?
Step 3
Wait, what's this?
After some confusion Verratti, who still has the ball, is penalised with the referee giving Nantes an indirect free-kick.
Step 4
It gets worse for Verratti. He's then given a yellow card for his antics.
Cue much confusion and textbook Italian hand gestures.
So what's happened here then? Allow us to explain.
FIFA rules state that 'no trickery may be used to get around the terms of the amendment to Law 12'.
So regardless of the fact Trapp never picked the ball up, the act of passing to the goalkeeper on his knees is seen as 'ungentlemanly conduct'.
You learn something new every day. If you're looking for more refereeing conundrums allow us to point you in the directions of this beauty.
It had us scratching our heads for months.
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