Steaua Bucharest boss Elias Charamboulou revealed how referee Marco di Bello said SORRY for denying his side a goal that could have changed their Europa League tie against Rangers after blowing for a foul on Jack Butland.
The Romanians thought they had taken a shock early lead at Ibrox when winger David Miculescu robbed dithering Butland of possession with just two minutes on the clock before slotting home – but the Italian whistler claimed a foul had been committed by the Steaua star.
FCSB crumbled after that with Rangers rattling in four goals on the night to ease the pressure on Light Blues boss Philippe Clement but it could have been so different if that early good had stood and the man in the middle apologised and crucially VAR was unable to intervene as he blew before the ball hit the back of the net.
Cypriot Charamboulou said: “The game might have been very different if the referee had made the right decision on the goal. I spoke to him at half-time and he apologised. He said he should have waited before whistling, so VAR could have helped with the decision and I respect him for that. But it is too late now.
“It was a bad night for us. Unfortunately, we knew from the beginning that we would face a very good team, especially at home. We knew exactly what to face. The main problem for us was that we were dangerous when we had the ball.
“We knew Rangers were a team that when they lose the ball high, they try to press and regain the ball. And we received four goals in the same way, unfortunately. But this is football and in this high level, in order for us to win points, we have to be on our best, and we were not today.
“The opponent was better, and this is it. I repeat, Rangers were better, no excuses, they won the game. Thank you for our amazing fans for coming today. We have no time now to cry or to put our heads down. We have a derby, a very important game on Sunday, that we’ll go full there in order to win the three points and try to make our fans happy.”
Meanwhile, top FIFA ref Marius Avram reckons Italian whistler Marco di Bello made two mistakes when he disallowed Steaua Bucharest’s opening strike for a foul on Rangers keeper Butland. Rangers nearly got off to the worst possible start in their Europa League tie when the English keeper was caught on the ball by Steaua star David Miculescu, who then tapped it into the empty net after just two minutes of the game.
But di Bello – who booked seven players at Ibrox – immediately blew for a foul so VAR couldn’t check the incident and the goal was disallowed with Rangers going on to romp to a 4-0 success. And Romanian ex-World Cup ref Avram reckons the ref made two huge mistakes.
He pointed out: “He made two errors in the same phase of play. It’s clearly not a foul. And he cancelled the possibility of VAR analysis by blowing the whistle before the ball went into the goal. VAR protocol says you have to delay the whistle. So it was a double mistake. If they had followed the VAR protocol and delayed the whistle, I’m certain the decision would have been overturned and the goal would have rightly stood.”