The decision from UEFA that drives Fenerbahçe fans crazy.

UEFA has announced the VAR referee for Fenerbahçe's match against Slavia Prague, which will be played away in the 5th week of the UEFA Europa League. The referee assigned to the match has infuriated the yellow-blue fans.

VAR REFEREE BRAND

Fenerbahçe will host the Czech representative Slavia Prague in the 5th week of the UEFA Europa League. The match will take place on Thursday, November 28, at Fortuna Arena and will start at 23:00 Turkish time. The VAR for the match is German referee Benjamin Brand. The 35-year-old referee, who is a familiar name, has drawn the ire of the yellow-blue fans.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Brand officiated as the VAR referee in the match played between Sivasspor and Fenerbahçe last season, where he awarded a penalty decision against the yellow-blue team in the 90+4th minute. Fenerbahçe ended up drawing 2-2 with this penalty decision, losing two critical points in the championship race.

WHAT DID ACUN ILICALI SAY?

Fenerbahçe Vice President Acun Ilıcalı criticized referee Benjamin Brand during a live broadcast, saying, "We lost the championship in the Sivasspor match, did we say anything? We asked for a foreign referee, a foreign VAR came and made a mistake. We didn't question it. We didn't say, 'He received instructions.' There is also a funny situation there. The main referee is not obliged to comply with VAR. If the main referee were a referee, he wouldn't give it. Again, we were left in the hands of a Turkish referee, who just gave the penalty and continued."

WHAT DID THE COMMENTATORS SAY ABOUT BRAND?

Deniz Çoban: The referee's assessment is correct. There is nothing the referee did not see. There is no promising attack, no clear goal chance, no uncontrolled move. The VAR referee's intervention is wrong. This is not even a penalty on the field.

Bahattin Duran: This is the turning point of the match. What can be said to the VAR referee for there to be a VAR intervention here? Do you have clear and obvious evidence? No, absolutely not. If goalkeeper Livakovic had slid in, swept his opponent, and committed an uncontrolled foul, even if the ball was going out, the VAR referee would have called for a review. Livakovic's foot is not sweeping the ground. The most important point here is that the VAR intervention was very late. They waited for 3 minutes. Okay, there was also a situation regarding offside, they examined that too. Waiting this long is not right; there is a semi-automatic offside system. This means the position was examined very thoroughly. The VAR referee called Cihan Aydın. The procedure is as follows; I have been in the VAR room many times. If the VAR room advises the referee to review, it tells the operator that we will show the moment of contact. It showed the moment when Livakovic and Manaj's feet met. The VAR referee called the referee for Livakovic's action. If there had been uncontrolled contact, Livakovic should have received a yellow card. Was the VAR intervention right or wrong? The VAR intervention was very wrong.

Bülent Yıldırım: The VAR referee claimed that it was a big mistake according to the protocol to show that Livakovic's intervention was an indisputable penalty. There is nothing that disrupts Djiku's intervention. If Djiku's impact had been effective, he would have received a red card. If it were a foul for the VAR referee, he would have pointed out Djiku. That's why the review took so long. Djiku's intervention exists, but there is a slight contact. There is no effective contact. After failing to make a quality shot, he holds his right calf because of that contact. What did VAR do? They called for a review because there was an intervention on the left foot. There is nothing in Djiku's intervention. There is no rough contact. There is no uncontrolled foul either; there is nothing that VAR should have intervened in. I don't know why VAR intervened.

Rıdvan Dilmen: I thought he called for the penalty position because of Djiku's intervention. If he had called for that, it could have even been a red card. I couldn't believe it when the referee called for Livakovic's intervention because there can't be such a penalty. The moment there was an intervention on Manaj, the ball had gone out of play, and the position was over. I can count 10 such positions in every match.

Gürcan Bilgiç: Just when Fenerbahçe thought this was over, a "simple" penalty was given. Throughout the match, Manaj, who played with referee Cihan Aydın, fell into the VAR trap in a position where he threw himself to the ground before any contact was made.