UEFA chief Platini shows red card to poor refereeing

MONACO, (Reuters) – Bad referees have no place in  soccer and will no longer be tolerated by UEFA, president Michel  Platini said yesterday. “If you cannot see the ball has crossed the line from three  metres away then you are no good,” he told a news briefing. “The  time has come — there will be no more excuses for referees.”

Platini, who had the original idea to use five officials at  Europa League and Champions League matches, remained steadfast  in his opposition to goalline technology.

He said the experiment with five officials would eradicate a  lot of problems in and around the penalty area.

The experiment sees one additional assistant standing behind  each goalline, alerting the referee to fouls in the penalty area  and when the ball has crossed the line for a goal.

“I am more in favour of the experiment where the extra  referee can see when the ball has gone over the line. For me  that is the only solution,” said the president of European  soccer’s governing body.

“I think it’s a very good system. We have always been very  tolerant as referees cannot see everything.

“Now with this system they can see everything. They have an  assistant standing behind the goalline. If they cannot see if  it’s gone in they should get another job,” said Platini.

“There should be near zero tolerance with regard to referees  because they should be able to see everything now.”

Frenchman Platini added: “A Champions League final with only  three referees makes me nervous now … with five referees we  can be 99 percent or 100 percent certain.”