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UEFA confirmed today that they will implement VAR in the knockout stages of the Champions League this season. The European competition was one of the few tournaments in Europe without this system and now it seems that UEFA are willing to accept that VAR tends to improve the game.
There has been some controversy about UEFA not using VAR in the Champions League this season and even Valencia coach Marcelino complained about it after his team got knocked out of the competition.
“If the goal of Manchester United featured a handball then you become even angrier,” he said after his own side’s 1-0 loss at Juventus. “The little details matter. What is strange is that VAR isn’t present in such a big competition,” said Marcelino.
UEFA are expected to implement VAR in the Group Stage next season, but knowing that it wasn’t on their plans to use it now, it’s good to see that they have decided to make the knockout stages a bit more fair.