The referee is often the bogeyman in sport, as was the case on Tuesday evening at Stamford Bridge in London. Danny Makkelie had a penalty repeated on the advice of VAR. Technically, the repetition was correct, but VAR shouldn’t have called Makkelie’s attention to it (read why here).
At Borussia Dortmund they were beside themselves, advisor Matthias Sammer described the referee as “very, very arrogant people”, midfielder Emre Can explained: “In the end we lost undeservedly, also because of the referee”. BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke etched against the sports information service: “You always had the bad feeling that he wanted to be the most important man on the pitch.” That the defeat of BVB and the associated elimination from the Champions League also affected performance was quite justified on Tuesday, receded into the background.The focus is on Makkelie, also because the 40-year-old, who is actually considered one of the best referees in the world, has repeatedly been the center of attention in recent years – even if he is wasn’t always to blame.
In July 2021, football England was feverish with the Three Lions. At the European Championship, which was postponed by a year due to the corona pandemic, the English played against Denmark in the semifinals for a place in the final in London. As the game went into overtime, a man took center stage where he certainly doesn’t want to be: referee Danny Makkelie. Raheem Sterling went down when the Danes dribbled in the penalty area and Makkelie immediately pointed to the spot. England’s captain Harry Kane converted the decisive 2: 1, the video referee did not intervene before.
To the incomprehension of many, Sterling was enough for minimal contact to theatrically sink to the ground. “Sterling tried to make contact, it was clearly not enough for a penalty,” said former top referee Urs Meier on “Goal.com” after the game. He thought at first that there had been contact, but changed his mind when he saw the replay. “It is absolutely incomprehensible to me that he (the VAR, editor’s note) did not at least send the referee in front of the screen to look at the scene again,” said Meier and also received support from other quarters. Arsène Wenger, Arsenal London manager for many years and an icon on the island, also criticized the VAR (“In moments like these, I don’t understand why the video assistant doesn’t ask the referee to look at it”), for star coach José Mourinho it was “never a penalty”.
A few months earlier, Makkelie and his team of referees had also come under criticism: In the World Cup qualifier between Serbia and Portugal, Makkelie and his line judges missed a clear goal from Portugal’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo – neither goal-line technology nor VAR were in use at the time. The game ended 2-2 – Serbia and Portugal (via the play-offs) eventually qualified for the World Cup. Nevertheless, Ronaldo foamed after the game and let his frustration run free on Instagram. “There are times that are difficult to deal with, especially when you feel like an entire nation is being hurt,” Ronaldo wrote, while Portuguese media wrote of a “theft!” Makkelie saw his mistake after the game and apologized to the Portuguese team and national coach Fernando Santos. “The referee apologized and I have a lot of respect for him,” said Santos, who was still annoyed at the goal not being awarded.
RB Leipzig had to find out that the VAR is not necessarily Makkelie’s best friend. In the preliminary round of the 2020/2021 Champions League season, the Saxons traveled to Paris St. Germain. After just a few minutes, Makkelie pointed to the point after the then Leipzig Marcel Sabitzer is said to have brought down the Parisian Ángel di María. However, the repetition showed that there was no contact. The VAR remained silent here too, Neymar scored the only goal of the evening. Even when things got rougher at the end of the game, the VAR refused to contact Makkelie after two fouls by the Parisians that were worth sending off. “The penalty was a joke, something like that at Champions League level, that’s really sad,” said RB coach Julian Nagelsmann at the time.
However, the most recent debate about Makkelie was at the World Cup in Qatar. When Poland and Argentina met in the preliminary round, the Dutchman once again pointed to the point. Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny touched Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi in the face with a cross. Makkelie initially let the ball run, but when looking at the pictures decided on a very flattering penalty, which Messi then missed.
Sources: Telegraph, ESPN, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, dpa, Sportbuzzer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
