Diving is one of the biggest problems in football at the moment. While diving inside the box is already checked, however those that are done outside are given no attention. On many instances, these dives lead to freekicks which lead to goals.
A similar dive was made by Bruno Fernandes against Chelsea in the FA Cup Semifinal. Manchester United were given a free-kick for a clear dive but thankfully they didn’t score. Interestingly, Chelsea coach Frank Lampard had claimed the VAR is favouring Manchester United which Ole Gunnar Solskjær rejected as a “narrative” against his team.
The clear dive from Fernandez seems to have cemented the claims of other coaches about United’s diving tactics. The only solution to lowkey cheating is to check these dives through VAR. That, however, would mean continuous stoppages in the play, something no football fan likes to see. An alternative would be to punish players for diving after the game. Sure it would make the game even more complicated but there is no other solution to players constantly diving and getting away.
It should be discouraged in any way possible, if we as fans, don’t want players rolling around the pitch with a slight blow of the wind.
