Referee Andrea Colombo is at the centre of a storm on social media for his handling of Roma-Milan, but the newspapers have praised him.
The only big call that Colombo had to make was the handball on Davide Bartesaghi, which led to the penalty with which Roma ended up drawing level after Koni De Winter’s opener.
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However, a clip that is going viral on social media has shown some close-up details from the Stadio Olimpico. Firstly, the referee seems to physically confront Adrien Rabiot as he goes to check that Mile Svilar is ok after he took a ball to the face.
Then, Colombo stepped on Mike Maignan’s boot as the goalkeeper was trying to take up his position for the penalty. The Milan captain let him know, and yet received a yellow card for it.
Finally, Luka Modric got a strong shove in the back as he attempted to chip a ball up into his arms after a free-kick was given. After questioning why, he got the yellow card rather than the offender.
Embarrassing officiating last night. pic.twitter.com/4gjM8jeQNd
— Kilpin. (@KilpinChronicle) January 26, 2026
Yet, as MN24 write, Andrea Colombo receiving an overall good rating for his management of the match from the Italian media.
Corriere dello Sport gave him a 6.5, praising his focus on the game and his handling of the cards. The newspaper claimed that the referee didn’t let anything go, making clear and confident decisions. The decision to award a penalty for Bartesaghi’s handball was clear.
Furthermore, the Rome-based CorSport even state Maignan’s yellow card was deemed justified for his attitude towards Colombo, who urged him to take his place in goal.
Tuttosport gave Colombo a 6, confirming the correctness of the penalty on Bartesaghi, but also noting that some decisions displeased both teams.
La Gazzetta dello Sport also awarded Colombo a 6.5, praising his handling of key moments, such as the penalty for a foul on Bartesaghi. The newspaper confirmed that Pulisic’s handball did not justify the penalty.
The paper also praised his consistency in the yellow card given to Modric, which was considered harsh but legitimate. Furthermore, the handling of Rabiot’s yellow for a reckless challenge on Svilar was deemed correct.
The Modric one is when your kids are scrapping and you automatically blame the older one 😂
Next, practice how to shoot the ball to the hand, everytime milan players near the box shoot the ball to opponents hands, coz thats the way football works now
Are you saying that Celik shot the ball at Bartesaghi’s hand on purpose?
The intension won’t matter, if we are getting the decision and get to score.
What do you think, a penalty should be hand to ball and not ball to hand, like what happened against Roma.
The officiating was bad, if the referee is been commended for even obvious malicious carding, then there’s a problem really.
Management should take up these officiating with Fifa, just like Madrid did.
Agreed, Take it up to UEFA and FIFA, because FIGA and AIA are both corrupt as hell.
And the papers are now full of Inter, Roma and Juve journalists who all hate Milan’s guts. You’d probably get less biased reporting with CNN.
I’m not even kidding.
Tbf, Nkunku and Leao attract more fury
Exactly. The referee didn’t nullify our attack, Nkunku & Leao did.
Same goes for you. You are like a limpet to this genius.
“Same goes for you. ”
I didn’t nullify our attack. 🥸
Isn’t it embarrassing to just sh*t on Milan players on every article?
I would really like to know what the papers have to say as to why the Bartezaghi handball should be penalty. Was it intentional? Were his hands in unnatural position, was he making his body bigger? Because Im with MM16 on this, where the F should his hands be in that situation! And after all, its simply one penalty too many against us!
In the previous fixture the ref squared up to Salaemeakers like he wanted a punch up … but no there’s no anti-Mila bias in Italy…
His previous matches with Milan:
– 18/02/24 Monza 4-2 Milan, Red card to Jovic
– 22/04/24, Milan 1-2 Inter, Red card to Calabria & Hernandez
– 29/10/24 Milan 2-3 Napoli
This guy is a fascist.
He looks more like a Communist to me.😀
Makes sense 🙂
I don’t like this referee but he was good last night
If a player physically confronts a referee, they will be suspended. It needs to work the other way too.
Can’t blame Rabiot for going for the ball, and, Modric’s card was not correct. Aside these two, he did ok. Didn’t see anything that made me feel he was favouring Roma.
Go do some research. Look up Colombo Milan Maldini Primavera. You’ll understand the hate this referee has for us.
He’s got some hate-boner for Maldini and Milan since 2018-2019.
The bigger question is, why is this guy even allowed to officiate Milan matches anymore.
As always, blaming the referee instead of looking at our own dire, cowardly approach, real small team mentality.
I hope more referees punish players who argue, get in their face and simulate. It would improve the game
The unfairness is when Inter does these things and gets no yellow cards, but every other team don’t even complain and immediately gets carded.
We aren’t talking about fair officiating here. Clearly certain teams are not being judged under the same metric as the rest of the teams in the league.