One thing is for sure. After the derby Osijek i Hajduk in the City Garden there will be talk only of a trial. We don’t like when the referees overshadow the derby, when the football festival in which both teams are contenders for the title of Croatian champion falls into the background. However, what happened tonight in Osijek borders on circus, not first league football.
The honor of judging the derby between Osijek and Hajduk belonged to the chief referee Fran Jovic while they were sitting in the VAR room Igor Pajač i Bojan Zobenica. The first contentious situation happened in the 17th minute when Zaper seemingly in the penalty area crashed Krovinovica to which Jović reacted immediately by pointing to the white dot.
Exclamations of indignation broke out in the city garden for a reason – Pajač and Zobenica called Jović in front of the screen and after the intervention of the VAR, he annulled his decision.
And exactly in the 30th minute a new, even bigger oversight of the head referee. Lovrić found himself in the penalty area of Hajduk and fell in a duel with Ferrom. Jović reacted instinctively again, drawing a yellow card and then a red card, since Lovrić had already received a public warning. So, due to the simulation, Jović excluded the winger of Osijek after only half an hour of play. And then chaos ensued.
Bome gave them a job because Buffoon i Zobenica they checked the situation in the VAR room, patched up big omissions, and then realized that the chief judge was completely wrong. The check lasted for several minutes, Jović stood in front of the screen again and when he saw that Ferro had stepped on Lovrić, he was sprinkled with ashes.
He called Lovrić, who did not even come off the pitch knowing what the decision should be, canceled his red card, showed Ferro a yellow card and awarded Osijek a penalty.
And towards the end of the first half, there were serious problems with the technical equipment. It all resulted in a compensation of as much as eight minutes in the first half.