Strahinja Pavlovic has been catching a lot of heat on social media for an incident at the end of Milan-Genoa, damaging the penalty spot just before the away side’s penalty miss.
San Siro holding its breath, the Milan players in heated exchanges with the referee, the Genoa players protecting Nicolae Stanciu… Amidst all of this, one of the Rossoneri players – namely Strahinja Pavlovic – was doing something completely different.
As shown by various videos on social media, the Serbian defender was seen kicking the ground right by the penalty spot. His goal: to make things as difficult as possible for the penalty-taker Stanciu, who needed all the grip he could get in that moment.
Sure enough, in the 99th minute, the Genoa man skied his penalty and Milan escaped with one point and their unbeaten run intact.
No punishment possible for Pavlovic
Pavlovic’s move has earned enthusiastic sharing from the Rossoneri fans, considering it nothing more than a smart tactic by the defender. From others, however, the move has been highlighted as very unsportsmanlike conduct.
The defender was booked by referee Maurizio Mariani shortly after, but as per the reports from the officials, this was for the face-to-face with Genoa player Leo Ostigård. Nothing will be done about the penalty spot destruction, as it’s way too difficult to prove anything in retrospect.
As the newspaper continues, who guarantees the correlation between the two events, that is, that Stanciu missed the penalty due to Pavlovic’s tampering? Who can verify the hole or small hole made by the Rossoneri defender?
The rules are clear: TV images can be used after games in cases of violent conduct not detected by referees or VAR, or for the use of blasphemous expressions. No official comment has arrived from Milan: it’s considered an on-the-pitch incident, on par with Ostigård’s foul on Niclas Füllkrug, which they believed was a penalty.
However, a question arises: why didn’t any of the opponents step forward to remove Pavlovic from the spot if his behaviour was considered potentially harmful?
Genoa bench furious… to no avail
On the Genoa bench, almost everyone saw Pavlovic, standing up in unison to draw the attention of the players on the pitch. However, none of the Genoa players realised what was happening, partly due to the tense nature of the match and the fact that they had their backs towards the bench.
Immediately after the final whistle, Genoa manager Daniele De Rossoneri went to speak to the Serbian defender, reiterating his unsportsmanlike conduct. No inflammatory remarks were made: only bitterness for his behaviour that damaged the Rossoblu.
Of course its somewhat unsportsmanlike but its done regularly by all teams.
What I really did take notice of further down was in regard of the use of tv images after matches ” in cases of violent conduct not detected by referees or VAR, or for the use of blasphemous expressions” well if the players are allowed to do the sign of the cross or point the gingers towards the sky well then others certainly should be allowed to do the sign of the horns as well even if that could be considered blasphemous. If I played for a club like AC Milan known as Il Diavolo I would do that sign each and every time i would score a goal even if some Pius Christians would take offense in it. Damn hypocrites.
…point the fingers towards….
How did you from this article took that out.
AND HAVE RESPECT FOR RELIGIONS EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT RELIGIOUS BECAUSE HOW CAN THEN RELIGIOUS MEN HAVE RESPECT OF YOU
I’M religious and I don’t have anything wrong about the nickname IL Diavolo I like the nickname
Sorry didn’t read well don’t read my first comment
My bad
Its ok and I didn’t take offense in it but some people might also take offense in religion as much as religious people might do with blasphemy so it is a two way road. Personally each to their own and if I for example were to visit a church I would most definitely behave respectful according to that sphere. Either way same rules for everyone would make the most sense to me.
I detest unsportsmanlike behavior, it should be punished and stamped out.
Diving and time wasting have ruined the game and costs it fans
I see it as unsportsmanlike. I see it more Machiavellian ethics
Was the softest penalty ever anyway, and it takes 2 seconds to see it didnt matter anyway because that idiot hit the bottom of the ball and leaned back so far he could limbo when he shot it. That thing was never going anywhere near the net lmao. This is also another thing consistent with “encroachment” in the box. It is literally done about every other game. If they want to stamp down on it, sure why not. But youre gonna have to stay doing it literally every weekend cuz that’s how often its done and nobody says or does anything. Its honestly more rare to see a penalty actually get called back for encroachment than it is to not, despite the fact there’s guys in the box every single time. Same with this