FC Viktoria Plzeň has lodged an official protest against the performance of the referees and the VAR team in Saturday´s league match against Jablonec. The reason for this is two incidents in which Martin Jedlička suffered a serious injury and defender Svetozar Marković was fouled in added time. Our goalkeeper remains in hospital and is awaiting further detailed examinations.

In the 9th minute of Saturday´s match, Martin Jedlička collided with Martin Cedidla in the penalty area. After our goalkeeper successfully played the ball, the opponent made a dangerous tackle. He arrived late to the challenge and followed up with a headbutt of excessive force. In our opinion, this was a clear foul that should have been punished with a red card for rough play, given the late arrival, intensity of contact, and threat to the player´s health.

After lengthy treatment, Martin Jedlička was taken to hospital with concussion, a broken nose, and suspected further fractures in the facial area. He is currently still in hospital under observation and awaiting further detailed examinations.

The second situation occurred in stoppage time (94:36), when David Puškáč struck Svetozar Marković in the head with his elbow, preventing our defender from moving towards the ball. In our opinion, this situation should have been assessed as a foul, and the player should have been given a yellow card. If the main referee overlooked this, VAR should have intervened and the goal should have been disallowed.

"From our point of view, there was a clear mistake by the referees and the VAR team. At a time when you can see everything from several angles and shots, it is absolutely incomprehensible. This is a gross influence on the match and the final result," explains club spokesman Václav Hanzlík, explaining why the club decided to file an official protest. "Both situations described can be clearly documented in photos and videos from the match," he added.