Referee Meler’s test analyzed by X-ray, the Turkish whistler warned four players and gave 7 minutes of injury time in the second half
Born in 1986, Umut Meler, the referee chosen for Belgium-Slovakia, began refereeing the Süper Lig, the top league in Turkey, in 2015 and joined the Fifa referees two years later, in 2017. Meler was even the referee of the match between Ankaragücü and Rizespor, where the equalizing goal for the guests scored at the end by Gaich, created a scene of incredible violence where it was the match referee himself who paid the consequences, being struck violently on the face by the now former president of the home team. In the Champions League, there are 3 matches directed by the Turkish referee, including Lazio, in the match played at the Olympic stadium against the Scottish Celtic Glasgow, won 2-0 thanks to a brace scored in three minutes by Immobile. Also in the Europa League there were 3 matches directed by Umut Meler: he also managed Milan in their 4-2 victory over Slavia Prague and the first leg of the quarter-finals with the match won 3-0, at Anfield, by Atalanta against Klopp’s Liverpool. In the Conference he refereed the second leg of the Conference League semi-final against Club Brugge, a match which allowed the Viola to access the final of the competition, where they then lost to the Greeks Olympiacos.
Meler’s history with Belgium and Slovakia
One previous with the Red Devilswho won on that occasion, while it was the debut ever with Slovakia.
The referee cautioned four players
Assisted by assistants Eyisoy and Ersoy with Gozubuyuk IV man and the German Dankert at Var, the referee booked four players: Mangala, Schranz, Tielemans and Lukebakio
Belgium-Slovakia, slow motion cases
These are the dubious episodes. In the 28th minute, vehement protests from the Belgian bench asking for a red card from Pekarík for a challenge from behind on Trossard at the halfway line: referee Umut Meler chooses not to take out any cards. In the 29th minute, Mangala was booked and missed the lead and intervened on Haraslín’s foot, interrupting a potential restart for Slovakia. In the 41st minute, the second yellow of the match: the scorer Ivan Schranz stops Carrasco’s restart with a hold and is booked. In the 57th minute Lukaku scored with a header following a corner kick, but after a few minutes his goal was annulled by the intervention of VAR due to an offside position by the Belgian number 10 after Onana’s tackle.
In the 76th minute Tielemans – who had only been on for 2 minutes – was booked for having fouled a restart by Suslov. Lukebakio does even worse: in the 85th minute he gets a yellow card for a foul on Hancko, a few seconds after he entered the pitch. In the 86th minute another goal from Lukaku and VAR intervenes again: Meler comes recalled to the on field review for a hand by Openda, author of the decisive assist, and this time too he cancels the goal to the Roma striker.
The Euro2024 VAR is new and experiments with a new invention: it has inside not only a chip, but also a gyroscope. With this technology it can certify with greater precision which extremity of the body a player touched the ball with. Therefore, it is easier to define, for example, whether there was a hand touch in a given play. As UEFA explained during its presentation, “the new technology will allow us to see every element of the ball’s movement and will be useful in the referee’s video decisions”. And so it happened in the disallowed goal against Belgium. The play was observed at the VAR and the new technology was used, which shows a diagram as if it were an electrocardiogram, which opens if the impact on the hand is detected, as happened with Openda. Then the gyroscope worked, which is a mechanical device used to measure, maintain or change the orientation in space of some devices. Gyroscopic sensors are devices that detect angular velocity, the change in the angle of rotation per unit of time. After more than 7 minutes of added time, Belgium-Slovakia ended 0-1.
