Villarreal defeated Manchester United after an epic penalty competition to win this season's Europa League in Gdańsk - but how did the blue-clad officials team, led by referee Clément Turpin from France, get on in this big assignment? Find out in our analysis below.
Analysis
While the quality of play in this final was mostly bemoaned by the world's media, actually the match officials had to face quite an interesting match in my view. Clément Turpin did a widely sound job, and - most importantly for a final - the wider focus quite well away from the Frenchman in charge.
Big Decisions
Let's start with the Key Match Incidents.
52' - Potential penalty to Manchester United (tripping)
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By a strict interpretation of the book, the defender commits a foul here - the attacker is first to the ball before he is carelessly kicked. Admirers of the streetwise-ness the world over should celebrate the defender's, if I may say so, rather brilliant obfuscation of this scene by going down injured himself.
Is this call enough for a big final though? Surely not - the attacker's control of the ball is a pass, not an attempt to keep possession himself, ie. even if he wasn't carelessly tripped, it would have made little / no difference to the attack. For UEFA, penalty is not really an option here (especially in a big final).
65' - Potential penalty to Manchester United (handling)
Turpin was correct to let the game go on - the ball was quite expected for the defender, but he does everything to make his body surface, smaller, not bigger. Not a deliberate handling, correct decision.
84' - Potential red card to Villarreal no.8 (SFP)
Perhaps the most interesting scene of the whole final. In my interpretation of by-the-book, I am really struggling to find reasons arguing that theoretically this is reckless only, yes the intensity is only medium-high, and not high, but that isn't taking away from in a vacuum, I would instruct this scene as a red card offence.
Again, we have to ask - is this enough for a red card in a big final? Again, surely not, as mentioned the force was not ultra-high, it is a late challenge after a centre, Manchester United players don't mob the referee after the foul, only after a replay the extent of the challenge becomes clear. So UEFA don't want a red card in this scene.
However, after two incidents already in Ch, we have to focus again on a decision in an SFP-question being taken by the video match officials. It is very obvious, at least to me, that it was not one of the on-field officials who instructed Turpin to issue a yellow card to the offender of this scene.
Look, of course I can understand the logic, and would support a common-sense approach that if in a crucial moment in the EURO final such a procedure is needed to reach a clear second yellow card, then fine, we don't want robots in charge of the biggest games.
113' - Potential penalty to Villarreal (handling)
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There is actually more than one interesting facet to this scene (off-the-ball striking offence, mobbing the referee) but in this bit we will focus on the handling call itself.
It is pretty clear that referee Turpin did not / could not assess the handling from his only, only perhaps fourth official Slavko Vinčić had any chance to do that. But I agree with the final decision, also from the Video Match Officials, no penalty.
UEFA refereeing chief Roberto Rosetti was at pains to point out in the UEFA.com article about how the games will be officiated at EURO 2020 that referees have to understand "natural movement" when assessing handling scenes. This is a good example for that mantra I think.
I would contrast this with the penalty which Damir Skomina gave, ironically to Manchester United, in their game with Paris in 2019. In that situation, the defender jumps to block the ball square-on when the ball hits his arm, which was away from his body - penalty.
Here, the defender tries to block the ball square on, before it hits his arm. Being used for co-ordination, and contrary to Paris - Manchester United aforementioned, not a tense one in blocking a shot, the correct call is play on in this scene. Correct non-intervention even despite a "serious missed incident" in my book, even if it was never 'in danger' in a UEFA match.
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There is one final point I'd like to make to this effect - the (surely?) deliberate lack of replays in for instance at 52', or for the onside played for the allowed Manchester United equaliser, is really disappointing and I would urge UEFA to discontinue that in time for the EURO in a couple of weeks.
Managing the Game
Clément Turpin refereed this game according to the principle of mostly staying in the background, and realised a solid-good performance in doing so.
The game became interesting for the ref after the first fifteen minutes. He correctly resisted a caution in a borderline scene at 15', before issuing a smart verbal warning at 17' - it was interesting to note the topic of charisma in the comments, in both these scenes, I think Turpin really excelled with his gestures, mimics and manner!
The Villarreal players got a bit irritated after that, and it would have been sensible to award them a calming freekick at 18'; there was another missed foul a minute later. The French referee did smartly (and correctly) award them a freekick at 21', which successfully placated them.
I would have advised Turpin to draw the line with the late, borderline careless-reckless foul at 28' with a yellow card. Instead, he chose to signal "I warned them at 17', now I'll warn you here" in a balancing kind of way. It would have been interesting to have seen what happened had Villarreal not scored from that freekick, but as it happened the referee could essentially reset his approach after that.
If Turpin chose to stay in the background in disciplinary measures, he also chose the same tactic in foul selection. If you ask me, the real excellence in football refereeing is when you select a line, rigorous or forgiving, and consistently impose that on the players in the conviction that it will be successful, and of course the skill is when that line is beneficial to the match.
The Frenchman on this evening selected a more background approach, jumping in with whistles when necessary. It worked fine for sure, and this is criticism on the highest level, but I was not altogether convinced by his foul detection (eg. 21', 25', 47', 67', 69'). To be fair, I must come back to an excellent comment by an anonymous user during this season - this was not "going deep" in foul selection.
The approach to cards worked fine but I thought Turpin gambled a bit by not issuing sanctions at 106' (SPA) and 108' (challenge), but in the end it all worked out okay for the referee. The opening card at 54', probably not a fully mandatory one to be fair, was good refereeing.
The missed off-the-ball strike at 113', was definietly more reckless than the expectedly given one at 82', but then correctly dealt with the mobbing in the extra time scene according to UEFA's strict guidelines - calm, then yellow card. I guess UEFA will also be satisfied with how dealt with the dissent at 65', too.
Teammates
It would have been to see some replays to confirm it, but Cyril Gringore gave a very crucial and correct onside for the Manchester United equaliser - well played. Less importantly, the procedure of the delayed flag at 70' was too chaotic, and should be avoided.
Otherwise, a good performance by him and Nicolas Danos when they weren't too challenged. Turpin did crossover with Danos for a throw-in at 73', and fourth official Slavko Vinčić discreetly signalled for a throw one way which ultimately went the other (25').
Balance
Clément Turpin's performance is far from the headlines, which perhaps the best barometer of success in a major club final. Even if we can cast doubt on the theoretical correctitude of some of the big decisions which he made in the match, for UEFA he had the appropriate response to each situation.
The most disappointing moment of the final was the VAR-instructed caution at 84'. I am very steadfast in my view that UEFA have to act against that in all but the most ultra-extreme situations, of one which this scene was definitely not.
The rest of the match was handled on a satisfying level, kudos to Cyril Gringore for his equaliser onside, and in general the officials could look back on a job pretty well done in Gdańsk.
