.
Subscribe to receive Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter for no cost, delivered directly to your email.
Join Miguel Delaney’s weekly newsletter for free.
The upcoming Carabao Cup semi-final matches will not use VAR, as the Riverside Stadium does not have the necessary technology.
On Tuesday night, Chelsea will be playing against Middlesbrough in the first leg of the two-part semi-final, while Fulham will face off against Liverpool in the other semi-final.
For the FA Cup, VAR is only being used at Premier League stadiums that have the technology, not at the others. However, in the spirit of fairness, the English Football League has decided to not use it at any of the four matches instead of just three out of four.
A representative informed The Daily Telegraph that VAR will not be utilized in the semi-finals, as it was not feasible to implement the technology in Middlesbrough.
The decision was made to not include it in any of the four semi-final matches, in the interest of fairness.
“The Football Association (FA) used a different strategy for the FA Cup, but we believed this was the best course of action. If it could not be implemented in one of the games, it would not be utilized in any of the four semi-final matches.”
“Regardless of the teams participating, VAR will be utilized for the final as it has already been implemented at Wembley Stadium.”
So far, there has been no use of VAR in the competition, including games between Premier League teams. However, this has caused some controversy.
In the quarter-final game at Stamford Bridge between Newcastle and Chelsea, there were several calls made, including a potential dangerous tackle that would have been reviewed by VAR if it were in use.
The EFL website announced that VAR technology will not be used in the Carabao Cup semi-final stage this season, in order to maintain fairness and consistency. This is because one of the participating semi-finalist Clubs does not have the system installed.
This is consistent with previous instances in this season’s competition where VAR has been present at certain venues, but not all.
Source: independent.co.uk
