The officiating crew had one big call to make during AC Milan’s game against Empoli yesterday afternoon, and La Gazzetta dello Sport report that they got it spot on.
The penalty incident itself was quite strange. In the 32nd minute, Milan were getting ready to take a corner after Loftus-Cheek’s attempted overhead kick deflected behind, but they were stopped from doing so.
The VAR chief Irrati told the referee Federico La Penna that he spotted it had brushed the raised hand of Maleh and a penalty was awarded. Giroud took on the responsibility, and found the back of the net via the underside of the bar.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has a small ‘moviola’ (referee review) section dedicated to the incident. They state that Maleh raised his arm in a disorderly manner and touched it with his fingers.
There was no obvious change in trajectory and the touch was light, but it was clear and well detected by Irrati. The other half-shouts for penalties – one again on Maleh and the other on Theo Hernandez – were correct no penalty calls.
Someone who doesn’t agree is Empoli boss Aurelio Andreazzoli, who in post-match press conference went on an expletive rant about the decision and how the video assistants can come to such decisions.
“He touched the ball with the fingertip. Something like that affects the future of a team and a game! Come on! Did he touch it on purpose? Yes or no, the referee has to decide on that only.
“I am not talking about this game specifically; these things happened in other games too. I am not upset with the referees. I am backing the referees because they are involved in this fuc***g situation.
“Everyone’s talking about this fu*** VAR. Yesterday there were games, and all we heard on TV was VAR. It’s not the referees’ fault, they are involved in this rubbish situation. It’s time to make clear rules, this has become a joke.”
#EmpoliMilan, sulla rovesciata di Loftus-Cheek #Maleh va in opposizione con il braccio sinistro alto sopra la testa toccando il pallone (📸 DAZN).
✅ Non è braccio a protezione del volto: On Field Review e calcio di rigore corretti. pic.twitter.com/yfs9rmHrtw— Denis Errori Arbitrali (@erroriarbitrali) January 7, 2024
Well it did affect the trajectory. But even if we play devil’s advocate here and say it didn’t, it definitely impacted the pace of the ball. That’s very important to the player receiving the ball. This was a stonewall penalty all day! He intentionally raised his hands towards the ball and got piece of it. It was a brilliant call
The player in question isn’t a goalkeeper. This was clearly a textbook penalty. Now if only the referees were always this good and didn’t give favors to a team like Inter.
Only idiot can bring this call into any doubt. Clean as f*uck.
I understand that the ball’s trajectory didn’t change but as a defender… you just cannot put your hands up like that.
I really don’t think he touched it.