Kasper Hjulmand labels handball rules ‘ridiculous’ as Denmark crashes out of Euro 2024 after defeat to Germany
Kasper Hjulmand also stated his thoughts on Denamrk’s disallowed goal
Denmark crashed out of the UEFA Euro 2024 after their 2-0 loss to hosts Germany. But the scoreline hardly depicts the story of the match. Denmark had a goal scored by their defender Joachim Anderson disallowed for an offside call by the video assistant referee (VAR). The offside call against Anderson’s teammate Thomas Delaney was very close and was fractional in nature.
Soon after the incident, when the Danish were denied a situation where they could have gone 0-1 up in the game, a VAR call against Joachim Anderson for a handball in the other box awarded Germany a penalty. The handball marked against Denmark’s defender turned out to be a pretty controversial one as many around the footballing world would still subject it as a very harsh call.
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Kai Havertz successfully converted the penalty for Germany to give them a 1-0 lead. Just about 15 minutes later, Jamal Musiala scored to seal a 2-0 victory for the hots, sending Denmark out of the Euros 2024. In his post-match conference, Danish manager, Kasper Hjulmand stated his thoughts on the VAR disallowing his side’s opening goal.
Hjulmand reportedly asserted – “I have the photo here, it (the offside call) was one centimeter”. He further emphasized – “In terms of statistics and date it doesn’t make sense. This is not how we are supposed to be using VAR. It’s one centimeter”. It can be clearly inferred from Hjulmand’s words that he is deeply disappointed by the disallowed goal and the VAR’s interference.
Moving onto the penalty awarded to the Germans for the handball by Anderson, Kasper Hjulmand wasn’t that assured of the rules, he inflicted his thoughts and said – “I’m so tired of the ridiculous handball rules”. “We can’t require our defenders to run with arms like this [meant – arms by their side, tucked in], it’s not natural”. The Denmark manager inserted that according to him his defender was “running normally”, and the situation when he made contact with the ball was pretty “normal”.
He labeled the decision to give Germany a penalty as “very decisive” to the match. Kasper Hjulmand then returned to the disallowed goal and stated – “It’s frustrating for our team. Being 1-0 in front would have changed everything. In my opinion this is not how football is meant to be”. As much as the Danish manager seemed disappointed by his team going out of the competition, a genuine concern about the application of VAR could also be depicted in his statements.
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