Video: Yasser Al-Qahtani: VAR would have sent three Iraqi players to prison in the 2007 Asian Cup final

Saudi football legend speaks about the historic final

Yasser Al-Qahtani, the Saudi football star, believes that video assistant referee technology, VAR, would have changed the course of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup final had it been in place at the time.

Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in that final at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Speaking on the programme "Fil Marma" on the "Al Arabiya" channel, Al-Qahtani revisited the match and described it as extremely violent on the part of the Iraqi side.

Saudi media figure Batal Al-Qous said to Al-Qahtani: "Had video technology existed in the 2007 Asian Cup final, three players would have been sent off because of you," to which the Saudi football legend replied jokingly: "No, they would have been jailed, and with their confessions."

Al-Qous pushed back: "Let's say there is a difference between playing in a manly way and playing violently, and that final was violent." Al-Qahtani's answer was simple. "Every team has the right to play in its own way, but that is exactly why there is a referee for the match."

Al-Qahtani took the award for the best player in Asia in 2007. Iraq's Younis Mahmoud, though, was named the best player of the tournament, a decision that still sparks argument today.