Leeds United supporters will have been left frustrated by the footage of a free-kick given to Watford at the weekend after Juraj Kucka appeared to deceive the referee.
The incident was captured on Match of the Day (59:50) as the Slovakian midfielder attempted to turn away from Mateusz Klich on the edge of the Leeds box.
Should Kucka have been booked for diving?
Yes
No
However, after attempting to turn away from the Polish midfielder, Kucka threw himself to the ground without being touched by Klich, and referee Andre Marriner fell for it.
The Hornets were awarded the free-kick, which saw Watford narrowly put the ball wide of Illan Meslier’s goal with the score 0-0 at the time.
Leeds had the last laugh in the end as they pulled 11 points clear of Roy Hodgson’s men and nine points clear of the relegation zone – but they may well still feel aggrieved by the decision.
TIF Thoughts on the footage…
We are amazed Kucka (who is valued at £1.8 million, as per Transfermarkt) was able to fool the referee with this and win his side a free-kick. From the replay shown by the BBC, it appears to be a blatant dive.
There was an awful lot riding on the game at Vicarage Road with the Whites still stuck in the scrap at the bottom, so had Watford converted the set piece, there would have been a lot more frustration.
With the points wrapped up for Marsch’s men, the incident can be forgotten about, however, there will be frustrations around the possible implications it could have had on the game.
In other news: Unreal: Leeds supporters must be excited as footage emerges out of ER – opinion