Sparta denied penalty against Lillestrøm: pundits call it a mistake

In the Europa League match between Prague’s Sparta and Norway’s Lillestrøm, the referee did not award a penalty for a foul on Hugo Sochůrek, and former players in the Nova Sport studio are convinced it was a mistake. The game at Letná ended in a 1:1 draw.

The incident unfolded like this: Sochůrek received the ball in the box, slipped free neatly and headed for goal. Two opponents closed him down, and Jaw Paintsil, as the footage shows, did not touch the ball, while there was contact with the Sparta midfielder’s legs. The players in red demanded a penalty and the stadium protested loudly, but Slovenian referee Martin Matoša immediately signalled that there was no foul. His colleagues at the video review did not intervene.

Former player Roman Hubník said: “To me it’s a clear penalty: the opponent stuck out a leg at Sochůrek, and I don’t understand how the referee doesn’t blow. Considering the referee has 58 matches in the Slovenian league and about 20 penalties awarded, I don’t know.” Roman Bednář thinks it was more obstruction than a kick: “We’ve seen penalties given for lesser offences.” Michal Pospíšil added that it was a job for VAR, though the penalty may have been slightly “soft”.

Sparta coach Brian Priske has no doubts: “I think it was clear. We should have had a penalty.” Midfielder Roman Macek admitted that from the pitch it also looked like a penalty, but he had not yet seen the replays, so it was hard to judge.

No penalty was given, and Sparta held onto a narrow lead until conceding in added time after a defensive error: Tomas Ulsen scored. Was the Sochůrek incident a missed chance? Possibly. But Sparta seem to have lost the points somewhere else.

Source: sport.cz