Referee's bias kicks off storm of criticism

Editor's note: After a match between Shandong Luneng and Henan Jianye in the Chinese Super League on Saturday, the performance of the referee Fu Ming has been in the spotlight because of several decisions he gave in favor of the visiting team. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

Fu gave Henan Jianye a penalty kick for a "faceball", not a handball, as the video assistant referee showed, and helped the visiting team to equalize at 2:2 in the 80th minute of a difficult match. Later Fu ignored an obvious foul by a Henan Jianye player in the penalty box, which was also clearly shown by VAR. And in the last minute of the match, the host team seemed certain to score, but Fu blew his whistle for a foul before the ball crossed the line.

Interestingly, Fu's performance has invited criticism from the fans of both teams. The supporters of Henan Jianye said their team has the ability to get a draw by playing fairly and they do not value Fu's favoritism, which tarnishes sportsmanship and the image of Chinese soccer.