Abdiel Ayarza went down in the area in the 90+5 minute, and referee Bruno Pérez walked to the VAR screen to decide whether a Los Chankas forward had been fouled. He came back with a goal kick for Alianza Lima. The 1-1 draw in Andahuaylas on Sunday, November 8, 2026 stood, and one club is now demanding to hear what the officials said behind closed doors.
Who Has the Power
Pérez said, "Se termina tirando" about Ayarza, and the VAR images were not clear. He ruled the contact and hold weren't strong enough to bring the forward down. One man, one screen, one verdict. The players who'd spent ninety-plus minutes at altitude got no say.
Los Chankas CYC wasn't having it. The club issued an institutional statement calling the VAR's failure to reverse the action "inaceptable" and "clara y determinante." It announced a formal complaint to the Comisión Nacional de Árbitros (CONAR), demanding a rigorous evaluation of the referee and an explanation of criteria. "Solicitamos los audios del VAR," the club said. It also asked CONAR to report publicly on the criteria for referee designations and the consequences of errors, and called on Peruvian football authorities to guarantee fair, transparent and impartial competitions.
Read that again. A club has to petition a commission to find out how the people judging it reach their decisions. The audio belongs to the apparatus, and the apparatus decides who hears it.
Who Gets Crushed
The result left Alianza Lima without a chance of winning the Clausura, and Alianza now awaits its rival in the Liga 1 playoff final. Los Chankas came into the game hunting a top-eight place in the accumulated table for an international tournament. A call from the screen can move a season. The players who run themselves into the ground carry the cost.
The bodies pay first. Before kickoff, Alianza confirmed three absences through a medical statement: Renzo Garcés, with a fracture of the nasal bones from a collision in the match against Cienciano; Marco Huamán, with a second-degree sprain of the left ankle; and Jairo Vélez, with a traumatic strain of the vastus lateralis of the right thigh, after aggravating a problem he already had against Cienciano and taking another knock in training. All three also can't play in Peru's national team friendlies against Bolivia on Friday, November 13, in four days, and are doing physiotherapy under the club's medical department.
Díaz stayed on the pitch though injured, because Alianza had used all its substitution windows. Camacho was treated for a lower-back problem in the first half. Advíncula and Torres collided. The schedule keeps coming, and the bodies keep absorbing it.
What They're Calling "Order"
The goals were small human stories. Eryc Castillo scored in the 51st minute, finishing a pass from Fernando Gaibor on a counter-attack. Kelvin Sánchez equalized in the 59th after a mistake by Luis Advíncula in defense, and the VAR confirmed it. Los Chankas also claimed a handball by Díaz in the area. Nothing came of that either.
Gaibor, the Ecuadorian midfielder, spoke to L1 Max. "Nos vamos con buenas sensaciones, intentamos buscar el arco rival, hicimos un buen partido, al final tuvimos esa mala pasada y nos empataron, pero pensaremos en el siguiente rival," he said. On the team's unbeaten record at altitude: "Hemos hecho un trabajo excepcional durante el año, se mantiene el invicto y no es fácil lograr eso." Asked about possible final opponents Sporting Cristal and Sport Huancayo, he said: "Hasta que no termine el torneo, no pensaremos en la final, jugaremos lo que queda y luego veremos, no importa quién nos tocará en las finales."
The players shrug and move on. The last matchday of the Clausura will define the finalists. And the audio request now sits with the same commission that designates the referees it's supposed to judge.
- alianza lima
- los chankas
- liga 1
- torneo clausura
- pablo guede
- renzo garcés
- var
- bruno pérez