Irfan Peljto, Spain - Portugal

I think that we can divide this game into two different and very clear periods: a quite calm first half, with a very low number of whistled foul and an easy-going officiating by referee (however, there were also some interesting penalty area situations), and a second half in which the most difficult thing to manage for the 35 years old from Bosnia was the frustration of Portuguese team. They started to make many fouls and also to play in a very rough play. I think that in this second parte of the game, referee was not faultless and there are some situations to be chcecked carefully.

Foul detection was overall good and the first thing I can underline about that is Fourth Official's cooperation in many situations, he called some fouls to referee in his area of vicinity, this was very good. Disciplinary control should have been better in second half, while no problems at all in first half about that, as already reported.

Assistant referees were both quite busy, they got all their calls right, if we exclude (but that's my opinion, please have your say) the last offside call made by AR2 in 84'.
Was that an active offside? In my opinion AR2 should have waited more before raising flag, keeper not still challenged by opponent who was just running toward the ball, but he was far.

The rest was OK from both assistant referees,according to following summary:
9' good corner kick decision AR1
13' offside AR2 - replay not 100% clear but it should be correct call
25' Good ONSIDE AR2
42' Correct offside AR1
51' Good ONSIDE AR1 in the action leading to 0-2
53' Good ONSIDE AR2
84' AR2 Call - Read above.

A case of fourth official involvement (you can hear him shouting FOUL, FOUL), 34':

Referee started his game with a good alertness, irregular kick off immediately detected:

As already reported, first half has been very calm under disciplinary point of view, but referee had to face two crucial situations in a row in 39', at first a penalty appeal for handball, and then on the subsequent corner kick another penalty appeal for a possible holding / irregular contact inside the box.

In my opinion possible penalty for handball is very tricky to assess. I think there are arguments to back referee. Ball was absolutely unexpected in this case, it was an attempt to make a clearance by teammate from a very short distance. Unnatural arm position could play in favor of penalty in any case, but here, to be honest, I think referee has his reasons to play on. Whistling penalty, for sure, wouldn't have been a mistake. Wiating for your opinions. In the second case, I don't see arguments for a penalty, no clear foul / holding on attackers by defenders.

Second half started with a penalty appeal, however nothing significant and correct assessment by referee:

In 49' there was the first significant challenge of the game regarding a possible YC, however given what happened later, I must say NO CARD is fully supportable here and there were most important situations.

Starting from 61' I must report the point for improvement for referees, here two incidents, fouls made by the same player (#18, POR), I think it is very difficult to accept that he ended game without being booked.

61' reckless (in my opinion) challenge.

75' possible reckless use of arm

I think that YC in 61' (still, FO cooperation, you can hear him) is very clear. Impossible to whistle without booking there. Very dangerous. I also noticed that in these seconds, if you look the full sequence of this video, referee looked a bit missing in concentration for a while.

In 76' there was first YC of the game, and this was mandatory.
One can discuss about the SFP, to be honest live I got the impression that this was a clear RC, both legs loaded on opponent with such challenge from behind, however the last replay leaves some room for assessing it as "only" reckless. In any case, you can understand that referee was very lenient in this end of game, giving in all situations the minimum of possible disciplinary measure.

In 85' referee spotted a foul close to RC for SFP, but also in this case YC can be OK, I think, considering the hitting point. However, again, very borderline.
Here referee was alert in issuing YC, sometimes such challenges are difficult to perceive from the pitch.

The disappointment of Portuguese players was even more blatant when they got into frustration for the last minutes of the game. A late attempt to kick the ball by a player resulted in a very reckless challenge to keeper. If we assume that he went for the ball (I mean, without any real intention to hurt keeper), YC is OK. Otherwise, one should again think about a possible RC for VC. This is very difficult to understand, for sure one must stay with doubts.

So, I think that referee performance in this game presented some area for improvements, however at the same time there were very good decisions, cooperation with both assistant referees and fourth official was good, he can be also backed regarding all crucial incidents, but surely what happened in the last minutes of game could have been prevented by a strict approach when referee noticed that losing team could have been frustrated.

LAW 5 - THE REFEREE BLOG REPORTER:
Chefren