Former referee of the Russian Premier League, Igor Fedotov, shared his thoughts on the performance of referee Vasiliy Kazartsev during the 12th round match of the RPL, where Togliatti’s “Akron” triumphed over Nizhny Novgorod’s “Paris NN” with a score of 1-0.

“In my opinion, Kazartsev has not been effective as a referee. During the 28th minute, he failed to show a yellow card to Pestryakov for unsporting behavior — he clearly held back an opponent without attempting to play the ball. There were other players nearby, but the actions of the Akron player warranted a yellow card.

The decisive moment came at the 37th minute. Had Kazartsev sent Ivlev off for a second yellow card, Paris NN would have been down to ten men for the entire second half. In this instance, the referee didn’t even call a foul, even though Ivlev recklessly stepped on the opponent’s ankle with his full foot, without trying to play the ball. According to the department’s recommendations, that should have been a yellow card,” Fedotov stated in an interview with Championship correspondent Mikhail Rozhdestvensky.