Did the World Championship venue solve this? Mo Salah was disturbed by laser lights – an experienced Finnish judge assesses the situation: “Should have noticed”

The qualifier for the Men’s World Cup between Senegal and Egypt was dramatic. The struggle to advance to the penalty spot, which ended unscathed, ended in a Senegalese celebration. Liverpool finished the decisive hit Sadio Mane.

A friend from Egypt Mohamed Salahin fate was harsh: he failed as the first player on his team.

The spectators also tried to disturb the Egyptian players during the game, but the most talked about incident happened in the penalty shootout when Salah failed.

Egyptian superstar Mo Salah failed a penalty kick. From the television image, you can see how the lights of numerous laser pointers are reflected from the surface of the grass.

The image of Salah’s face just before the penalty kick says a lot: the attacker was deliberately tried to harass.

Sports played To Mattias Gestranius, which is one of Finland ‘s best – known referees. Gestranius ended his international refereeing career this month. He is Finland’s first VAR-trained referee.

Mattias Gestranius, how should a similar situation work from the judge’s point of view?

– It was a penalty shootout, so common sense says that you could have waited and tried to get the law enforcement officers to intervene. There is no rush to anything in this situation. Once the execution is done, there is nothing left to do.

– However, the rulebook does not provide an unambiguous answer. I don’t think Uefa or anyone else has a ready-made protocol on how to act in a situation like this, Gestranius continues.

Are the judges at all able to detect if there is a similar harassment in the case of a penalty kick?

– I probably can, and I probably should have noticed. However, I would also throw the ball at the player: his reaction is essential. The most logical option would be for the player to indicate it if he feels disturbed, Gestranius estimates.

Referees have a protocol for if spectators behave racistly. Referees have the power to interrupt or suspend, for example, due to an external disturbance.

Alignment against interference with laser pointers may be coming on some schedule – at least if the old signs are correct. Gestranius says the cases that are usually talked about change practice.

– Time often goes by the way that when something happens, they are then logged, he points out.

Gestranius’s own refereeing career is no longer complete. Gestranius, who has ruled well over 200 Veikkausliiga matches, whistles for one more game in the home main series. The game is a match between HJK and Honga to be played next Saturday.

Gestranius has already taken up his new role as coach of the Football Association’s top referees. The last game, therefore, has not yet spun in mind.

– I’m sure there will be sad feelings on Saturday when the game ends. This has been such a big part of my own life. After all, it would be if you didn’t react to it in any way. The long phase of life comes to an end, Gestranius describes.