Liverpool star first-teamer Thiago Alcantara is certainly one footballer who is quite enraged by the usage of VAR in the game with the midfielder lambasting its usage while speaking to The Guardian for a recent interview.
The usage of VAR has come under the scanner this past season in Premier League football owing to the decisions that have come into effect as a result of the technology.
With goals being denied due to the tiniest of margins and fouls being overlooked, a majority of the players and pundits have spoken against it across the country.
Thiago, too, is one amongst his peers who seems disgruntled with VAR’s usage as the Spanish international, currently with the national team at the UEFA European Championships, voicing his concern over what he believes has removed the very essence of the game.
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The 30-year-old has said that VAR’s actions has made players more doubtful even when finding the back of the net from a majestic distance as he added that football now has lost its ‘magic’ with the game becoming much more physical and accelerated.
“I have that ‘hate modern football’ mentality; I’m more classic in attitude. And then there’s VAR, which I’ve always opposed. It removes the essence, the picaresque.”
“We make mistakes when we play, referees have to make mistakes too. Lots of mythical moments wouldn’t exist [with VAR]. And when you score, even a brilliant goal from the halfway line, you’re waiting. Thinking: ‘I hope there isn’t a foul in the build-up, I hope there’s no offside, I hope’.”
“It’s taken up a different pace, rhythm: more accelerated, more physical.”
“The figure of the No. 10 has almost disappeared. We see less magic, less fantasy. Footballers do more but faster. There’s no need to dribble because you run.
“Players are more developed in every sense. You lose that player who’s different, who ‘breathes’; the playmaker who was slower even if he had sublime technique doesn’t get the opportunity to turn.
