UEFA Competitions: Referee discussions 2025-2026 [Rs]

That's enough contact to throw an attacker off when he is about to head into an empty goal. If the defender doesn't extend, I think you can defend no penalty. But the extension is what raises to be a penalty.

 

🚨🛑 Real Madrid players, furious with the referee — and red card for Arda Güler.@lejournaldureal 🎥 pic.twitter.com/TEuj9HDynZ

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 15, 2026

 

Gee, Real Madrid tearing into the referee after the match after a loss, just like Barcelona did. Who could have predicted such a thing earlier in this thread

 

If Madrid is winning at that point, and he’s really wasting time to try and keep the lead, I’d probably agree with you.
But in a tie game? What’s to gain from wasting time? That’s why it didn’t make any sense.
No one would have criticized the ref for NOT giving a card there, especially knowing it would have been a red.

 

Yeah I dont think so. If this is what you're seeing from that video, I don't think it's worth discussing, we're just living in two different realities.

 

I will again as usual on here stand alone on the stump and write into the void. And I say this as someone who had to stop myself from giving this a few weeks back in U17 MLS Next after a player did a reckless tackle then picked the ball up and walked away with it. Had to explain out of it to the upset players that the restart on a YC is a whistle so he's not delaying anything.

Maybe if refs kept punishing these technical offenses instead of finding ways to weasel out of them, players might, I dunno, stop doing them. Okay, it's a tie game. Why is Camavinga doing this? After committing a foul, instead of just dropping back on defense, why does he feel the need to dribble the ball away, dribbles up to the opponent Kimmich who is trying to get the ball from him, takes a 90 degree turn to dribble away from him, picks the ball up, Kimmich now pushing on his back to get the ball from him, and tosses it down to his teammate further away from Kimmich? Just nothing, right? Why punish doing this that clearly was done for no reason and is just a completely innocuous action? Oh, well it was a tie game so NO WAY he could be trying to prevent Bayern from a quick free kick restart, only a team in the lead would do such a thing. The shock on his face upon receiving the second yellow card alone was worth it, even if Vincic stupidly forgot he gave him a yellow. Maybe that will stop Camavinga from ever doing it again.

It's really amazing the mental gymnastics even on here. Not to get political but The Onion has a classic article headline titled 'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens" that they repost every time there's a mass shooting in the USA. Soccer is exactly the same with this BS. The ONLY sport where these delaying tactics occur with regularity in every game, people complain about it, and instead of saying we should be punishing it all the time to quell player behavior, we instead say "oh it's just part of the game", "oh for xyz reason you don't give it here", etc etc etc etc excuses excuses and then say "why do players keep doing this, why is this the only sport where it happens"

 

I agree with you, but the call in a vacuum isn’t the problem, it’s the presentation of it.

If he goes a second yellow card there confidently and in-control, I’d be praising him. But instead he gives it in a way that makes it look like A) he forgot the player was already booked, and B) he wouldn’t have given it if he’d known.

 

This is a good video to see the whole sequence:

The incident leading to Camavinga’s red card. 🧐 pic.twitter.com/fcHXLF1UFf

— RazedFootball (@RazedFootball) April 15, 2026

 

Omg that might have been worse than van persie's red against Barcelona. Wow.

PS - I think that given the circumstances of the game and the location where that happened, the idea that this was time-wasting is absurd to me and even a first yellow would be unwarranted. And I'm in at Atleti fan, so I'm not inclined to give Madrid the benefit of the doubt.

 

I'll chime in now...

You just picked up a yellow. Go back on defense. Don't dribble the ball, don't pick it up. Would anyone else have given a caution? Of course not, because he clearly forgot the guy was already on a yellow. However, I'm still not sympathetic to a group of unlikable guys who whined the entire Champions League campaign.

Second, the argument to use that it was beneficial to Bayern Munich for them delay the restart doesn't apply to this game. This was not the typical Champions League match where we see the road team win the first leg and then sit on their aggregate lead on the second match. So yes, it did fit the definition of Delaying a Restart...even though the normal "expectation" at this level is not to issue one.

This is the same game where on the insurance goal, the player doesn't dribble the ball to the corner flag and the match would have been over. He actually went 1 vs 3 and scored. I could give numerous examples but this was the most obvious one why this wasn't your typical "we'll sit on the lead and hope the other team doesn't score".

Lastly, we're in a society now where people don't care what someone else's opinion is about something but I still enjoy listening to other peoples perspectives (as long as their based on facts). For the entire hour, the Paramamount/CBS clan had NOTHING negative to say about the red card (unless I blinked). Not a single thing. You can say they're not referees, but they all played at the highest levels (unlike us) and have their prejudices against certain teams based on their playing days, but no one said Oogatz (love that Italian term) in the post-game. They kept repeating Camavinga has to understand the circumstances since he already has a caution.

With their talent, they had plenty of time to score goals but chose to bitch the entire campaign. I'm not shedding a tear and am looking forward to the semifinals.

 

Well, that kinda is what a caution is—a warning to behave better. While I understand how we get there, it is more than a bit weird that a first caution has become a license to behave somewhat badly without sanction.

this wasn’t a minor tap the ball away. This was a couple of long dribbles, followed by picking up the ball and walking away with it. He’s not just delaying, he’s making a visible spectacle. Any player who does that is the daring the referee to caution him (and perhaps he feels safe because he already has a caution). There wouldn’t even be any discussion of this if it was a first caution. No tears for him.

Al, that said, I reluctantly agree that most powers that be would be at least skeptical of this as a second card. And that is amplified when it is all too apparent that the R didn’t realize it was a 2CT when he showed the yellow.

 

Yeah, the powers that be won’t want to see a second yellow given in a tied UCL quarterfinal for this. You know who should want to see it? Everyone who wants to see this BS cut out of THE ONLY SPORT WHERE IT REGULARLY HAPPENS. Imagine the NFL if a team is rushing to the line in the last 30 seconds of a potential game winning drive and defenders can just pick up the ball and walk away with it and get told “oh no, can’t penalize this, not in this situation, just warn him” like we do in soccer

 

I think we're all seeing very different things, I see somebody slightly annoyed about a call, but not so annoyed that they are committing cardworthy dissent, and then casually putting the ball back where the spot of the foul was. Is this something people have been clamoring to forever get out of the game? I mean, maybe, but nobody I know.

 

Seems to me like the broadcast angle is much better where you can see his dribble away from the spot of the foul, encounter Kimmich who wants the ball, dribbles away from him, picks it up, kimmich still going for the ball, then he drops it further away from him
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/NWjdqfcaZc

 

I strongly disagree that a yellow card is unwarranted. having already been warned about delaying restarts, Camavinga dribble dribble dribbles the ball away after the whistle; then, as a Bayern Munich player (who for all we know, might want to take the kick quickly) chases him and tries to grab the ball, Camavinga picks it up and runs away with it.

I’m sorry, but if that’s not textbook delaying the restart, we’ve completely lost the plot about how much of this behavior is permitted. Now, sometimes referees may choose to manage this leniently and not show it, but he’s already warned the player once! I’m very close to saying a second yellow card was mandatory here, given the prior warning. Now, do I think Vincic would have given it, no probably not. But we could have criticized him with a missed KMI if that had happened.

So again the issue wasn’t the call itself. The presentation did not give the impression of a referee who was in control of his own decisions.

 

Look at the 7:15 mark.

Camavinga's red card is very similar to the one Deco received in the infamous Portugal vs. Netherlands match in the 2006 World Cup. Only difference is that Portugal was winning and Netherlands were chasing the game.

In a World Cup filled with countless red cards and 2CTs, I think that was the only 2CT for DR.

That red card is a minor footnote and no one cared at the time because the game went so sideways, but I think, even, at the time it might have been controversial if that was the only red card shown in that game.

No one likes DR 2CTs unless they are really, really bad. It's why we've never seen a goal keeper getting a 2CT for taking too long on a goal kick.

 

Which is why there is no substance to the first caution to the GK for time wasting . . . the "turn over" option will have a million times more impact on GK time wasting that DR ever has

 

From what I can see, there is no mention of the play where Rudiger pulls a cheap shot on Stanišić that leads to Real Madrid taking the lead just before halftime.

When VAR was looking at the APP, was the justification simply "Well, the contact had no impact on the goal because it happened well after he lost the ball"?

2044704164194726214 is not a valid tweet id

 

And prejudices FOR a team right? Even Henry did not excuse Camavinga's actions and he loves his fellow Frenchmen. That's the big indicator. They interviewed Griezeman, Dembele, and Olise after the games and he spoke to all of them in French very graciously, but he was critical of Camavinga's choices in the post-game. It was very good.

 

First, I agree with you 100% with regards to all of your comments on this issue. A large part of the issue as I see it addresses the part in bold above. IMHO, players/coaches/fans need to stop with the idea that a ref 'gives a card' vs the player did something that warrants a card. The player caused the issue by choosing to do something to delay the restart. The ref doesn't just think - hey, maybe I should give him a card. Instead, he thinks, the player committed an offense that is punishable by a YC. As the old saying goes, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.