The referee returns to “Al-FAR” twice and cancels Al-Jazeera’s goal against Al-Ain

The confrontation between Al Ain and Al Jazira, which was held on Saturday evening, witnessed a rare arbitration incident, after the Spanish referee, Gil Manzano, was forced to return to the video technology twice to review the same situation, before finally deciding to cancel a second goal for Al Jazira, so the match ended in a positive 1-1 draw.

The match took place at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium at the end of the eighth round of the ADNOC Professional League, with an audience estimated at approximately 10,000 spectators.

Al Jazira had thought they had a 2-1 lead in the 87th minute through striker Simon Panza after a contact with substitute goalkeeper Hassan Sani, as the referee first resorted to video technology and awarded the goal after a first review. But Manzano returned to the screen less than 30 seconds later, before play resumed, to review a violation at the beginning of the attack, and ultimately decided to cancel the goal.

Despite the draw, Al Ain maintained its lead with 20 points, two points ahead of Al Wahda, which tied yesterday with the same score against Dibba, while Al Jazira raised its score to 14 points in fifth place.

Al Ain had opened the scoring in the 20th minute through Matias Palacios with a powerful shot from outside the area, before the visitors equalized through Bruno de Oliveira in the 36th minute.

The last minutes of the first half witnessed great excitement, as goalkeeper Khaled Issa saved a penalty kick awarded by the referee after returning to the “VAR”, and Ibrahim Adel executed it in the 45th + 1 minute, before Panza scored a goal for Al Jazira in the 45th + 2 minute, but it was also canceled after a review of the video technology.

In the second half, the two teams exchanged attacks without changing the score, while the most notable moment was the cancellation of Panza’s late goal after two successive reviews by the Spanish referee, in an unprecedented incident in the league.