FC Viktoria Plzeň has lodged an official protest against the refereeing of the league match in Liberec. From our point of view, there were two situations where there was clear misconduct on the part of the referees and the VAR team.

The reason for the protest is two situations in which our players were injured and neither the referees nor VAR took any action.

Here are the specific situations:

At 18:06, Denis Višinský collided with home player Kayondo.

Our player played the ball, and then there was a dangerous tackle by the opponent, who came into the challenge late and followed up with a blow to the head (face). This tackle caused our player to suffer serious injuries in the form of a concussion and facial contusions, and he was even unconscious for a moment after the collision. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital in Liberec, where he was hospitalized overnight.

"From our point of view, this tackle should have been assessed as a clear foul and punished with a red card for rough play, given the late arrival, the intensity of the contact, and the threat to the opponent´s health. To our surprise, this challenge was not assessed as a foul on the pitch, and there was no VAR intervention," said club spokesman Václav Hanzlík.

The second situation occurred at 45:32, when Petr Hodouš struck our player Václav Jemelka in the head with his elbow. He suffered a laceration to his face, which had to be stitched up by the club doctors, and the player was limited for the rest of the match. "This situation was not assessed as a foul either. We are convinced that an illegal foul should have been called and the opponent should have been given a yellow card," added the club spokesman.

During the seven league rounds played, this is already the third serious head injury to one of our players (Martin Jedlička, Karel Spáčil, Denis Višinský). In all these instances, Karel Rouček was the main referee or VAR referee. Not once was an adequate card penalty given for the foul in question. "The main task of referees is to protect the health of players, and in our opinion, this is not happening with Mr. Rouček," concludes club spokesman Václav Hanzlík.