The RTÉ panel of Michael O'Neill, Liam Brady and Richie Sadlier. RTÉ Player RTÉ Player

BRAZIL EVENTUALLY RAN out 2-0 winners over Costa Rica this afternoon, but for a long time, it looked as though one of the tournament favourites might fail to claim victory for the second successive game in Russia.

With the match still scoreless late in the second half, Neymar broke into the opposing area and went down under pressure from Giancarlo Gonzalez. Referee Bjorn Kuipers initially blew up for a foul, but then opted to award a free-kick to Costa Rica after conferring with VAR (Video Assistant Referee).

The replays showed there was minimal contact from the hand of Gonzalez, and Neymar made the most of it by going to ground.

RTÉ’s panel discussed the incident, and while Richie felt the official made the right call, branding it “perfect use of technology”, Liam Brady disagreed as he felt the Paris Saint-Germain superstar was impeded.

To VAR or not to VAR. The panel are split on whether or not the referee made the right call in ruling out a penalty for Brazil #rtesoccer #worldcup #BRA #CRC pic.twitter.com/UywUdUL036

— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 22, 2018

The pair continued to argue, and Sadlier even gave a demonstration to show Brady what he meant by “the degree of contact”.

.@richiesadlier gets physical with Liam Brady as the #RTEsoccer panel debate the Neymar incident and whether VAR got it right #worldcup #BRA #CRC pic.twitter.com/6DX5l0YeXk

— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 22, 2018

We’re siding with Richie here, where do you stand on it?

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