Legendary former referee Pierluigi Collina said on Tuesday that the Video Assistant Referee system will provide a "parachute" that will not only benefit the on-field action at the World Cup but will also help the arbiters' mental wellbeing.

Speaking at a press briefing at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, the man who was voted the world's best six years in a row and is now Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee said that some would-be World Cup referees are not in Russia because they made mistakes that could have been avoided with VAR.

The relative fail-safe the technology offers, particularly in allowing the referee to make an on-field, real-time review, helps find the right decision while ensuring the referees avoid a crisis of self-confidence, he says.

"Psychological issues for referees are very important and it is the main reason why the referee makes the so-called on-field review because it would be very, very difficult for someone to change the decision taken on the field of play without knowing what happened. His self-confidence for the rest of the game could be severely affected," said Collina.

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"I think the outcome is what really counts at the end of the day. If it was a blatant mistake, a clear mistake, a clear and obvious mistake as is written in the laws of the game, we need to intervene to guarantee the outcome of the match is correct and not affected by a mistake that can be understood in terms of the human (error)."

In addition to protecting referees' mental state, Collina said he is wary of the often combative way aggrieved players approach and sometimes surround the whistle-blowers and he hopes it will not be an issue in the June 14-July 15 tournament.

"We were very clear with our referees. They know that they cannot accept this kind of behavior. In the team arrival meetings we had, we were very clear with players, and they were told as well as coaches, that this is something that we don't want to accept."

"It is a matter of protecting the image of the game, having the referee surrounded by players who are screaming, shouting, this is something that cannot happen."