Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann has demanded that UEFA up their standards and bring in goal-line technology, after France were denied a winner against Greece on Tuesday evening.
France were forced to come from behind to earn their 2-2 draw with Greece, which saw Barcelona’s Jules Kounde feature for 64 minutes, and Griezmann play the full match. Les Bleus had drawn level through Wesley Fofana with 16 minutes to go, and thought they had found a winner through Kinglsey Coman, but the referee decided that the ball was not across the line, while VAR did not tell him any different.
“UEFA has a lot of money and cannot do everything sorted so that we know if there is a goal or not,” Griezmann remarked, as explained by Diario AS.
“We need to demand more from UEFA. If they want us to play more matches, then we ask for more technology.”
🎙️| Antoine Griezmann: “UEFA has a lot of money, and they can’t get everything sorted so we know if there was a goal or not. We need to demand more from UEFA. If they want us to play more matches, then we ask for more technology.” pic.twitter.com/ek9qEXq0Mb
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) November 21, 2023
Manager Didier Deschamps was also frustrated.
“What I already regret is that this is the case at the international level. It could have been the same game with qualification on the line, and to have a ground where there’s no goal-line technology, it’s a little… Why was there no goal-line technology?”
This is an issue that could also rear its head again in La Liga. The Spanish top division also makes its goal-line decisions based on the referee and VAR reviews rather than hawkeye technology. In the Premier League, referees are notified when the ball crosses the line by a message sent to their watch, however UEFA and La Liga are yet to consider it necessary.
