XtraTime Web Desk: Lionel Messi’s Argentina gets a surprise support of Brazilian legend Rivaldo as the prolific forward admits that Argentina had reasons to complain after they were knocked out of the Copa America by hosts Brazil in the semifinal.
Lionel Messi complained after the game that the officials had favoured Brazil. He questioned why two possible penalties – on Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Aguero — were not reviewed by VAR.
Rivaldo has agreed with Messi and said that he is not a fan of technology in football.
“As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t agree with VAR technology and I believe the repeated pauses in play are ruining games,” he said in his column on a website.
“In the Copa America semifinal between Brazil and Argentina on Wednesday, there were two potential penalties for the visitors, but VAR didn’t help and Argentina were justified in complaining.
“It probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the match, because Brazil are a better team than Argentina now, but that’s not the point.”
“VAR is also making a mess of European competitions, as we saw in this season’s Champions League, where the tool has been used more. The problem with VAR is that the decision will always depend on who is watching the images in the VAR room.”