Song Lam Nghe An requests police to investigate the referee

The Nghe An team believes that some decisions by referee Nguyen Viet Duan and the VAR referee team seriously affected the match's outcome and raised many questions about transparency.

In the text,Lam River Nghe Anclearly stated that this was a match of good technical quality, but was overshadowed by controversial situations. Specifically, in the 14th minute, the ball touched player Nham Manh Dung's hand in the penalty area after a free kick by Song Lam Nghe An, but the referee did not award a penalty to the away team, and VAR did not intervene.

In the 51st minute, Song Lam Nghe An put the ball into the net after a corner kick but the goal was not recognized, and there was no re-check signal from the VAR team.

The climax was in the 86th minute, when Viettel was awarded a penalty after a collision between Quang Vinh of Song Lam Nghe An and Cong Phuong of the home team. After about 5 minutes of consulting VAR, the referee determined that the Song Lam Nghe An player had committed a foul and awarded Viettel a penalty kick. Song Lam Nghe An believed that this was an unclear collision situation and the penalty was unconvincing.

The Nghe An football team emphasized that the referee's decisions directly affected the outcome of the match in a way that was unfavorable to them, causing frustration among the coaching staff, players and fans.

Previously, Song Lam Nghe An sent a petition to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) requesting clarification of the controversial situations. However, the response the team received was considered unsatisfactory, forcing them to seek the intervention of the police to protect the transparency and fairness of the tournament.

According to the response from VFF, the situation in the 14th minute was not considered a handball because the Viettel goalkeeper had actively cleared the ball before it accidentally touched Nham Manh Dung's hand, in accordance with IFAB's instructions. Regarding the disallowed goal in the 51st minute, the assistant referee determined that the ball had gone out of play before being put into the net, so he raised the offside flag. The main referee also discussed and agreed on the decision with the VAR team.

Regarding the penalty in the 86th minute, the VAR team asked the referee to review the situation, and after checking, the referee determined that the Song Lam Nghe An player committed a foul, the decision was considered correct./.