Video Assistant Referee (VAR) sparks controversy every week, but how are decisions made and are they correct?
This season, we take a look at the major events to examine and explain the process in terms of the VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
Image credit for all screenshots: TUDN
Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons in the elite squad, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at elite level, he has worked in the field of VAR in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationales and protocols that are introduced on a Premier League match day.
Judgment: Glenn Nyberg
our: Paul van Bokel
incident: Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for violent behavior after an on-field review (OFR).
time: Minute 59
What happened: With the Republic of Ireland defending their penalty area, the proximity between Republic of Ireland player Dara O’Shea and Ronaldo left the Irish defender on the ground. Ronaldo made a crying gesture and indicated it was a dive, but Swedish referee Nyberg awarded a free kick and issued a yellow card for adopting an aggressive stance.
😫🔴Unexpected! Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off after being elbowed inside the penalty area
📲📺 Enjoy all the UEFA qualifiers on VIX! 🟠#EliminatoriasEnVix pic.twitter.com/zPYWSetYdI
– TUDNUSA (@TUDNUSA) November 13, 2025
It was the decision: After watching the footage, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) recommended an OFR for possible violent behavior by Ronaldo and upgraded the penalty from a yellow card to a red card.
Video assistant referee review: The footage reviewed by the VAR system clearly showed a deliberate action by Ronaldo on O’Shea. The process was then to determine whether the action was an aggressive act and met the OFR threshold.
Bukele and his VAR assistant believe this was a deliberate elbow strike on Ronaldo. Regardless of O’Shea’s point of contact, the action was accompanied by a level of force that met the criteria for violent action.
Boekel recommended the OFR to Nyberg who consulted his on-field marker and agreed – overturning Ronaldo’s original yellow card and issuing a red card instead.
Verdict: Positive and correct intervention by VAR in this event. When a player is very deliberate in his aggressive actions against an opponent, the threshold for violent action tends to be lower. However, this was a clear violation on Ronaldo’s part, regardless of the point of contact.
This was a blow to O’Shea’s upper body, but the action is judged, not contact — the law states that a red card offense occurs when a player “strikes or attempts to hit an opponent.”
In my opinion, the original on-field incident was not fully seen by Nyberg or his assistants. It was an off-the-ball incident when the play was live, so it’s understandable that it wasn’t captured in real time; Hesitation in body language and questions about communication between officials meant that it was a process of piecing together what likely happened rather than relying on facts.
However, this is another good example of VAR working as it should.
Ronaldo clearly did not agree, and left the field sarcastically applauding the officials.
