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Joe Donnohue

Raphinha quality recognised by Paris Saint-Germain man as Leeds United star sums up VAR debate

Since promotion to the Premier League, Leeds United have fallen foul to various VAR decisions handed down by Stockley Park.

Most recently, the Whites were stunned to discover Jarrod Bowen had not been interfering with play, according to VAR, in the 2-0 FA Cup third round defeat to West Ham United last month.

The Hammers man appeared to impede Illan Meslier from an offside position in the build-up to Manuel Lanzini's opener during that game.

While Leeds had the last laugh the following week courtesy of a 3-2 Premier League victory at the same ground, it will not be the last time VAR intervenes in one of their fixtures this season.

Whilst away on international duty, Raphinha was subject to a lengthy VAR review as his second-minute strike gave Brazil the lead over Paraguay on Tuesday night.

Following a stoppage which lasted several minutes, VAR eventually decided Raphinha had illegally used his arm in the build-up to the goal and it was subsequently ruled out.

Not that it mattered, however, as Brazil romped to a 4-0 home victory over the already-eliminated Paraguay in World Cup qualifying, Raphinha opening the scoring - legally - 25 minutes later.

Speaking after the match, Raphinha offered his thoughts on the technology which robbed him of a brace at Estadio Mineirao.

"It's hard to score a goal, celebrate, have that special moment, and then have the referee invalidate it with VAR. But it's very important to stay focused on the match so that if another opportunity arises, you can be there to score.

"It was a very good game, both individually and collectively. It was a very good game, both individually and as a team. I'm very happy to have scored, but I'm also very happy that we kept this momentum and came out with the win," he said, before mentioning the pace that the Seleção imposed from the beginning," he added, as quoted by Brazil's official media channel.

Raphinha celebrates his goal against Paraguay (DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP)

"I think it was our way of imposing the rhythm of the game, not letting them take over the match. From the first minute we tried to play our way of playing, with acceleration, individual balls. Defensively, we also helped a lot. We had a good match from the first minute."

Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos set up the Leeds winger for the game's opening goal on 27 minutes, and praised Raphinha's movement in the build-up to the strike.

"We need a lot of movement from the forwards. When I receive the ball, I try to have the peripheral vision to see what is happening in front of me. First I look at what is happening in front of me, on the first line, and then I widen my vision a little more. That is when I saw Raphinha moving, I saw that the defender was moving in the opposite direction.

"I saw that he was not offside, that he made the movement in front of the defender, I had my body turned more this way, I turned my foot and managed to hit a good pass for him to score the goal," the PSG man told Esportes R7.

Raphinha will now return to Leeds in order to prepare for next Wednesday's Premier League fixture versus Aston Villa.

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