Cristian Romero: Tottenham defender will not face retrospective action for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair
Tottenham defender will not face retrospective action for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair. Cristian Romero tugged Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella’s hair moments before Tottenham equalized to draw 2-2 with the Blues; the act enraged Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel; hair-pulling is not a punishable offense under football law.
Tottenham’s Cristian Romero will not face repercussions for yanking Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella’s hair on Super Sunday since pulling a player’s hair is not deemed an offense under football regulations.
Romero was seen yanking on Cucurella’s hair as he tried to attack a corner as Spurs pushed for a late equalizer in the Premier League clash on Sunday evening.
VAR official Mike Dean examined the situation and determined it was neither a red card offense nor a free kick to Chelsea. Referee Anthony Taylor immediately permitted Tottenham to take another corner, from which Harry Kane scored to tie the game at 2-2.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was enraged by the decision not to penalize Romero and hand Chelsea a late free kick, with the German head coach pleading that the goal should not have stood.
And because VAR reviewed the ruling, Romero will not suffer any more punishment for his aggressive behavior. Retrospective action can only be taken if both the match and video officials miss an occurrence on the field in real time and fail to note it in their post-match report.
If referee Taylor had seen the incident in real time, the right course of action would have been a free kick to Chelsea, preventing Spurs from scoring from that particular attack.
Unlike rugby, football regulations do not expressly prohibit hair-pulling. The authorities must evaluate if the level of the hair pulling is aggressive enough to be called violent conduct; if not, it is likely to be judged as unsporting behavior and result in a yellow card.
Tuchel stated in his post-match news conference that referee Taylor should no longer be permitted to referee Chelsea games since both of Tottenham’s goals on Sunday should have been called out.
Chelsea thought there was a foul on Kai Havertz in the build-up to the opening goal, but Taylor disagreed. This season, referees have been advised there is a higher threshold for fouls to aid with game flow, but VAR did not examine it thoroughly since it was not regarded to be in the same attacking phase of play as Tottenham’s first goal, scored by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Richarlison’s offside position when Hojbjerg struck the ball was investigated, but it was determined that his position had no negative influence on goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s position.
When asked if Taylor should never referee Chelsea again, the German said: “Perhaps it would be better.
“But, to be honest, we have VAR to assist us make the proper judgments. Since when may players have their hair pulled? When did that happen? And I don’t blame him if he doesn’t see it.