VAR taught Ian Poveda a lesson no player should have to learn in Leeds United's defeat by Chelsea

LESSON LEARNED? Ian Poveda, pictured here up against Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, was caught by Ben Chilwell in the penalty area but stayed on his feet and Leeds United were not given a penalty. Pic: Getty

VAR HAS taught Ian Poveda a lesson that no-one in their right mind wants any footballer to learn.

In the second half of Leeds United’s defeat by Chelsea the winger made a dart into the penalty area to reach the ball ahead of his marker Ben Chilwell, who stuck out a boot and inadvertently kicked Poveda.

The contact was not sufficient to take the Whites youngster’s feet from under him and so he continued to chase the ball and eventually tried a shot that was saved.

The International Football Association Board’s 12th law of the game says Poveda should have been awarded a penalty.

It states: “A direct free-kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences against an opponent in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force” and then goes on to list ‘kicks or attempts to kick’ as one of the possible offences.”

It goes on: “If an offence involves contact it is penalised by a direct free-kick or penalty kick.”

Nowhere does it state that Poveda had to go to ground or even be halted or impeded in his run in order to earn a penalty. Chilwell carelessly kicked him in the penalty area.

It was a lose-lose situation for a 20-year-old footballer.

He stayed up, neither the referee nor VAR took any action over the foul and in failing to score from the resulting shot, he was opened up to unreasonable criticism and suggestions of naivety. At 2-1 down with 12 minutes to go, it might have been a pivotal moment for Leeds.

Had Poveda taken the route Gjanni Alioski took when Nicolas Pepe attempted to headbutt the left-back at Elland Road and thrown himself to the ground, it would have been to a chorus of ‘he’s gone down too easily for me’ and accusations of cheating.

The end result is that a young player just starting to make in-roads in the professional game has had his honesty challenged and questioned in a way that could be detrimental to his and the game’s future reputation.

The next time he feels the kick of an opponent in the area, will he take the risk of staying up or risk accusations of cheating, with an exaggerated fall?

And for the umpteenth weekend in a row, football is left debating the efficiency and consistency of VAR, which at times feels more of a hindrance than a help to officials and players.

The introduction of VAR was an opportunity to rid our game of a certain amount of theatrics and the kind of behaviour we all profess to loathe, but in Leeds’ reunion with Chelsea it simply encouraged more of it.