On Tuesday, as part of the Coupe de France 2024-2025 semi-finals, Paris Saint-Germain took on Dunkerque at Stade Pierre Mauroy. Luis Castro, coach of the Dunkerque team, spoke at a press conference after the Parisians’ 2-4 victory (video highlights Dunkerque/PSG). He spoke of a great injustice in the refereeing.
Luis Castro “I don’t much like talking about refereeing, but we deserve more respect.”
“I don’t much like talking about refereeing, but we deserve more respect, not just in the Coupe de France. Today, there were no corners. I don’t know why they’re not going to see it. After the corner, why don’t they go to VAR? They let Paris play. But on the other side, let us play too.
I don’t really like talking about this. I’m always working, all day and all night. I’m not saying it’s done on purpose, that there’s a theft. But it’s not possible to have an imbalance. I told them it wasn’t a corner, it was offside. The players were frustrated. I want respect”, comments relayed by Foot Mercato.
Such comments are regrettable, given that they are far removed from the facts of the match, with PSG, logically enough, far superior. But we can agree with Luis Castro that there was indeed a refereeing error, since there was no doubt a corner. But this complaint is a painful one, since it sets aside a well-known rule in favor of favoritism.
Quite simply, there is no VAR for a corner or a 6-yarder where there is an error. It can be a real pain sometimes, but perhaps it will be changed one day. Just as a free-kick awarded by mistake that leads to a goal is not reviewed afterwards or cancelled. There’s no question of favoritism. Incidentally, if you want to raise a doubt about VAR, there was a possible hand whistle in the first half for PSG. But the Dunkirkers didn’t mention it.
We prefer to remember that they put up interesting opposition, with pace and play. But PSG were able to respond well after the bad surprise of the start of the match. They deserved to qualify, even if the corner was wrongly awarded.
