Amrabat: VAR doesn´t work if you do not use it

Nordin Amrabat slammed the lack of use of VAR in Morocco’s 1-0 defeat to Portugal, which saw them knocked out of the World Cup in the group stage.

Morocco fell behind in the fourth minute to a diving Cristiano Ronaldo header, which saw him overtake Ferenc Puskas as the record European international goalscorer, but were on top for much of the contest thereafter.

The Atlas Lions wasted numerous chances to level, and saw two first-half penalty claims rejected by referee Mark Geiger, with VAR not used, much to the dismay of coach Herve Renard.

Morocco have now lost two games without scoring a goal and will head home regardless of how they do against Spain, but Amrabat, who played despite suffering a head injury in their opening loss to Iran, felt aggrieved by the second successive defeat.

“I think we deserved a lot more. We deserved to win. We had five, six big chances, they created nothing,” Amrabat said post-match.

“They were only defending. Even Cristiano was in their own half. They speak about the VAR but if you don’t use it every time then it doesn’t work.”

Key stats:

#MAR are the first team to be eliminated from the 2018 FIFA #WorldCup

26 of the 43 World Cup goals have now come from a set-piece situation: 60% (8 penalty, 7 corner, 10 free-kick, 1 throw in)#PORMAR pic.twitter.com/MGRirp9xnf

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 20, 2018