In Focus: Felix Zwayer's performance in Juventus - Lyon

A closer look at one of the most interesting games since the resumption of the UEFA Club Competition: Juventus Torino - Olympique Lyonnais, handled by Felix Zwayer [VAR: Christian Dingert].

There is only one place to start, and that is the two penalties awarded in the first half.

Key Match Incidents

10' - Penalty to Lyon (tripping)

Analysis:

The decision that decided the tie was correct in our opinion.

Lyon no.8 wins the position and is carelessly tripped by Juventus no.33 who jolts his opponent's left leg into his right, causing him to fall. While not the most obvious in real time, in our view the foul is clear on a theoretical level. Some further remarks:

- The paradigm of soft fouls and indeed clear and obvious mistakes comes a-cropper in situations like this. I strongly disagree with any evaluation which calls penalties like that soft - they are clear fouls, when the attacker does nothing wrong and is felled by careless play from the defender. I would encourage readers to try and run having been clipped like that, you will find yourself on the ground! Fouls like this are problematic for Video Assistant Refereeing too - clear on a theoretical level, not to the naked (especially untrained) eye.

- On some level the decision must have been partly an educated guess for Felix Zwayer. He has a zero angle when the contact is made (09:37) and he cannot really assess with certainty what has happened. However, Zwayer reads what is likely to have happened quite well, and when he detects the natural fall of the attacker who was tripped, having run left a bit too, he awards a penalty. Good.

- It is impossible to assess whether the duel at 09:30 was fair: Zwayer should be backed.

- Zwayer could have avoided a lot of the trouble he now faces in the media by the way he sold the penalty. The expected decision of the players and the watching world was clearly play on from the clean tackle that followed, so Zwayer's whistle tone that said "it's a penalty" was not really adequate. He needed to communicate with his whistle that "actually, THAT IS A PENALTY!". Though he did point to Juventus no.33, he ought to have made it so clear to the watching world that he was not penalising the clean tackle that followed, that any television director couldn't ignore it. There is a time for referees to jump into the focus on a self-preservation level, and this was one instance of it. Instead, everyone (including some readers here) thought at least until the halftime break that the penalty was awarded for the clean tackle that followed. By then the damage was done.

-> Correct decision, but with better presentation, Zwayer could have woken up with more stock in the world this morning.

42' - Penalty to Juventus (handling)

Analysis:

This one can be a much short body of writing - the decision to give Juventus a penalty here was clearly (and obviously) incorrect.

Zwayer makes a perception mistake - while it might seem that Lyon no.11 moved his arm towards the ball in order to block the shot, that was not the case. With his arm stuck to his body as much as it was possible to reasonably do so, the ball ricochets off his arm and the force with which the shot was hit then moves the Lyon player's arm out, giving the impression that he intentionally blocked the ball.

A bad mistake for a Champions League knockout match, but sh*t can happen. VAR is a tool that can correct clearly errors like that one, but they chose to support the decision. UEFA and Roberto Rosetti will probably be satisfied by that, but we would ask them to take a step back and consider what the purpose of Video Assistant Refereeing is - perhaps it's too easy to lose sight of the overview and become entrenched in regulations and protocol.

 -> Incorrect decision, VAR should have intervened.

Match

Application of the LotG / Tactical Approach

Felix Zwayer whistled thirty fouls in the game. This can suggest that he tried to find a compromise between whistling too much and allowing a certain amount of physical play. However, his tactical approach and then the application of LotG can't be analysed without talking about his personality and player management.

His foul detection was okay overall.

If we make a deeper analysis of all the cards issued by the German, we can surely point out that most all of them look to be correct. Nevertheless, there are some situations to analyse; perhaps, with more empathy and a different type of communication with the players, some cards would have probably been avoided.

The first YC was issued for kicking the ball away (time wasting), referee in this case was forced to start the bookings. Earlier, in occasion of the penalty whistled, if referee decided to punish the previous infringment, we can accept no card, in the context of a careless action inside the box. A YC was issued in 31' for SPA outside the box. In this case, one can agree with referee, it wasn't a genuine attempt to play ball (holding) so the card is OK. The YC issued in 38' for a foul at the edge of penalty area was absolutely correct and a very clear one, for SPA. In this case, Zwayer didn't hesitate. To follow, a few minutes later, Zwayer booked the player in the wall who had committed the handball. In this case, once whistled and assessed as punishable, the card is mandatory. But, as pointed out above, the penalty call was originally wrong, so one must underline that this resulted in a mistake - incorrect YC. A few minutes before half time we agree with the decision of referee who showed another YC for a clearly reckless tackle.

In second half, after a quite calm first part, Lyon's goalkeeper was booked for time wasting and this was a good decision by Zwayer. then two minutes later there is another situation that is important to underline. Following a protest for a possible penalty (this was a correct decision by Zwayer and VAR, no penalty, no handball, there were two possible fouls) a player from Lyon had a clear reaction against referee with a dissenting gesture. Zwayer booked him, which was very likely reported by AR Thorsten Schiffner, because the player was persistent in his behaviour.  In 87' a YC for reckless use of arms while jumping was fully correct. In 89' during a counterattack by home-team, Zwayer gave a very good advantage after a first very reckless foul by Lyon no.39, and then he stopped the game because another foul, this time by Lyon no.20 had been committed. The German correctly booked the latter player for SPA, but missed a very obvious YC for the previous infringement, among the most significant mistakes of the evening.

Regarding the management of benches, fourth official Tasos Sidirópoulos was very busy especially with home-team coach who was very often much too anxious. He was shown a YC by the referee, but the German-Greek officials team failed to send him off for clearly disrespectful behaviour in added time. This is an important point for improvement.

The management of added time, with a special focus on wasted time, was absolutely a positive note of the performance, as well as the decision to extend it in second half.

Personality / Leadership Style

To build on Chefren's comprehensive analysis of Zwayer's technical performance above, I wanted to speak a bit about his manner on the field of play.

We can all remember matches where referees were visibly not confident enough to take charge of their games and their acceptance and control of the match fell from there, but I don't think Zwayer falls into this category, and he didn't appear to be lacking self-esteem (the fact he avoided really interacting with the players certainly suggested that, but he was not visibly shy, timid etc.). Zwayer's problem is more interesting - he can't command fellowship and respect from the players, because he is caught between being a distant authority and a player's friend on the pitch.

Zwayer isolated himself in this game. His attributes in player management lay in being an empathic leader on the pitch who is able to explain his decisions to the players and being accountable to them. He failed in that respect. He tried to force some authoritative distance between him and the players, often being even so far as a bit disrespectful to them. Zwayer couldn't succeed using that approach, and the players stopped seeing his leadership as a positive one for the match; they didn't appreciate being shouted at rather than talked to, by this referee, who's decisions sometimes surprised them too. That, especially with two penalty decisions the players widely saw as wrong, eroded a lot of acceptance and control from the Zwayer's performance, leaving quite an unsatisfactory impression.

Overall

This performance has mostly resonated (negatively) in the world's media for two apparently wrong penalty calls. While the first was an excellent decision, the second was indeed a crucial mistake - VAR Christian Dingert had to intervene. It will be interesting to know how UEFA themselves view the non-intervention. 

Felix Zwayer needs to improve by taking charge of his matches - whether it by deficiencies in his leadership style, decision-making or even psychologically losing the overview, the most challenging games slip out of his grasp; he needs to refine his tactical approach in order to prevent that from happening. As Chefren said, all of the sanctions issued were credible, but I did not see them as part of an overall game-plan for what he would encounter in Turin - a very challenging game. 

UEFA should strongly think about whether Felix Zwayer (currently) has the tools in his armoury to deal with the toughest matches at an international level. 

What about your opinion? 
Have your say by voting this poll. 

Your assessment about Zwayer performance in Juventus - Lyon?

Excellent performance.

Very good performance. Important decisions correctly taken.

Good, expected level.

Satisfactory with small areas for improvement.

Satisfactory with important areas or improvement.

One clear and important mistake, otherwise expected level or above.

One clear and important mistake, otherwise satisfactory.

Below expectations, poor control, significant points for improvement.

Disappointing. Below expectation with one and clear important mistake or a performance with two or more clear and important mistakes.

Unacceptable performance.

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