Europe's top club coaches have backed UEFA's decision to use five match officials in the Champions League. They gave their support Thursday, two weeks before teams such as defending champion Inter Milan, Manchester United and Barcelona play matches for the first time under the experimental system that adds an extra assistant behind each goal to help referees make decisions. “It's better to have three pairs of eyes (in each penalty area) than one pair of eyes,” United coach Alex Ferguson said after a two-day gathering at UEFA headquarters. UEFA president Michel Platini used the coaches' meeting to promote the five-official system he devised to help keep video technology out of the game. The system gives referees extra help to rule on goal-line judgments, diving, shirt-pulling at set-pieces, and is meant to deter players from cheating. The former France playing great's persuasive powers appeared to win over his audience. “We have a very, very good president in Michel Platini,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “Because he was a huge player he knows the rules, he feels what the players and coaches need.” The new refereeing system, which features one extra linesman behind each goal, was first tried in the Europa League last season and has been extended to the Champions League and the Euro 2012 qualifiers. “I thought Michel Platini spoke brilliantly on that subject,” said Roy Hodgson, the new Liverpool coach who guided Fulham to the Europa League final last season. “He made it clear to everyone that there's a human element involved, there's commercial interests involved.” The Europa League trials did not get worldwide approval, and FIFA's rules-making panel – known as IFAB – in May called for two more years of trials. Europe and Mexico were the most enthusiastic supporters of the system when IFAB approved the next phase of trials in July – just a few weeks after Mexico was eliminated from the World Cup by Argentina, whose opening goal in a 3-1 second-round win was scored from a clear offside position. UEFA stepped up its trials when the Champions League playoff round was played last month. It saw another high-profile officials' mistake when Tottenham's Jermain Defoe admitted to a handball before scoring in a 4-0 victory over Switzerland's Young Boys. Last week, Platini said the five officials would be correct at least 99 percent of the time. UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh, who organized the annual coaches' forum, said the new refereeing system will take time to evolve. “It is human and, of course, with human beings there can be the odd problem,” Roxburgh said. “It is very new and has to be nurtured and developed.”
