Penalty Denied to Gouiri: VAR Believed He Deliberately Fell

VAR ruled against Marseille in the Classique lost to PSG (1-2) on Sunday evening in the closing match of Ligue 1’s 5th round: the contact between Désiré Doué and Amine Gouiri in the 38th minute was not deemed sufficient to award a penalty, and the video referees even believed the Marseille striker deliberately fell.

The incident occurred just before halftime. Gouiri collapsed in the Paris penalty area after a double contact with the Paris defender, with no reaction from referee François Letexier. Upon reviewing the footage, contact at thigh height was clearly visible, but VAR assistants Bastien Dechépy and Wilfried Bien examined additional angles, including shots not broadcast live. Their conclusion, reported by La Provence: Doué touches the ball before Gouiri falls, and the latter deliberately went down.

The decision could even have backfired on Marseille. According to the regional newspaper, if Letexier had blown for a penalty, his VAR assistants would have called him back to review the situation — implying they would consider a yellow card for simulation.

Direct consequence: this incident will not feature in the clip of five weekly actions usually selected by officials for analysis. The technical refereeing department (DTA), which has been commenting for a year on controversial actions — sometimes validating decisions, sometimes issuing a mea culpa — will not weigh in on this matter.

Marseille had opened the scoring in the second half before losing 2-1, with PSG overturning the situation after the break. This uncalled penalty, occurring when the score was still blank, now fuels debate over what the Classique could have been.