Arias: "Criteria for refereeing and VAR needs to be the same for everyone"

The midweek game against Granada -and the VAR controversy seen during the game- was fresh in the memory for former player-turned Valencia CF ambassador, Ricardo Arias, when he spoke to VCF MEDIA on Thursday. He emphasised the need for uniformity in the criteria used for the application of technology.

"Let's be clear that I'm a defender of VAR, because technology came into football to help and to improve refereeing, but the truth is that it isn't helping much," he opined.

"I've always highlighted handball incidents as an example, because they aren't measured by the same yardstick. The most evident and most recent case was what happened on Tuesday. Even before play was stopped by the referee, the monitor was showing the move involving Jaume Costa and Gabriel," lamented Arias.

"That meticulousness, that lack of unification for the criteria, leaves us perplexed -because it isn't logical. There was a clear handball before and play wasn't stopped, nor was their the same delicateness or treatment for a similar incident. That's something to be annoyed about, and we were very annoyed."

"Valencia CF have to defend our rights, and we are at least obliged to protest and complain so that there is more attention paid to these types of actions," continued Arias. "If the thoroughness is there for some teams and not for others, then I don't know why VAR exists."

"I want to make clear, and everybody knows this: We weren't knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Granada CF. We were knocked out by VAR."

Any hope of moving on completely from the matter of VAR polemic will be dashed by the fact that Valencia CF's next opponents, Getafe, benefitted from a handball decision in the first meeting this season.

"Games against Getafe are surrounded by controversy that shouldn't exist, or that should be cut out. Referees have to realise that they need to impart justice on the field of play. What they are doing -involuntarily- is making this controversy grow," commented Arias.

"For the normal undertaking of a competition, be it LaLiga, the Copa del Rey or the Champions League, the criteria for refereeing and those in charge of VAR needs to be the same for everyone."

When the conversation got around to the purely football side of Saturday's game against Los Azulones, the VCF legend talked about how much is at stake.

"It's going to be very important," he said. "On Tuesday the team were very hurt, and on Saturday -despite the difficulty that comes with playing at the Coliseum- it's going to be a match that decides a lot about Valencia CF's future."

"If we are capable of winning there, it would be a statement. We have to get behind this group, more than ever in these games in which a lot for the future is on the line. We need to believe in them and know that this team always responds when they have to do that."