For the umpteenth time this season, AC Milan are the subject of refereeing controversy, dominating the media headlines.
As MilanNews recall, the match was certainly full of dubious decisions, even to the detriment of Sassuolo, but what could we expect from a referee like Valerio Crezzini, taking charge of his first ever game at San Siro?
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Not even two minutes into the game, the referee had already lost control of things by failing to book Alexis Saelemaekers for a rather nasty late foul on Muharemovic. From that point on, it was a matter of guessing how the game would go, with a lot of inconsistency in calling fouls.
The turning point?
Obviously, the episode that sparked the most discussion on the Milan side was Christian Pulisic’s disallowed goal in the second half Crezzini spotted a push from Ruben Loftus-Cheek on Candé, who seemed to make a meal of a slight touch.
The decision was completely wrong, as confirmed by Luca Marelli, who spoke in the DAZN studios and said: “It leaves a lot of doubt. The goal was disallowed for a push by Loftus-Cheek on Candé. The referee allows the play to be completed and then blows the whistle.
#MilanSassuolo | al 58’ annullata a #Pulisic la rete del 3-1 (📸 DAZN): sia sul cross iniziale sia sulla torre di Pavlovic le posizioni sono regolari, e il contatto di Loftus-Cheeck / Candé non è appunto più di un contatto; ci sono sì due mani sulla schiena, ma in dinamica si… pic.twitter.com/7Pw4obMziA
— Denis Errori Arbitrali (@erroriarbitrali) December 14, 2025
“It’s an on-field dynamic, VAR can’t intervene. There was contact, Loftus puts his hands on the Sassuolo player, but I don’t see any push. Considering that Crezzini didn’t call much, 24 fouls, this is way below the threshold.
“He simply put his hands on his back: in my opinion, this goal shouldn’t have been disallowed. There was also no offside to report.”
Further supporting Marelli’s thesis and the anger of the Milan fans is the position of the main refereeing officials of the AIA, according to whom Pulisic’s goal was fine, and therefore should not have been disallowed.
Another mistake by the referee!!!! Milan lost two points. Has the referee been been suspended for two / four weeks? Refereeing authorities should make the suspension PUBLIC.
If you admit it was wrong make it right and award Milan 2 more points, not harder than that.
That is basically the most inaccurate way to handle things.
Better VAR rules are needed. We are in a limbo, where we partially have VAR, but by the rules it cannot intervene in obviously wrong decisions, and by the same rules and poor quality of some refs it is possible to cause errors for initially correct decisions.
Think its an extract from another article where its also made clear that Sassuolo was cheated of a penalty in the last minutes of the match. Either way the ref certainly didn’t have a good match and I also think he allowed the Emilians to dive a lot and even rewarding them in the process.
I dont like to complain about referees or i particular use them as an excuse.
Normally if you are good enough you win.
This was a particularly bad/strange performance by the ref.
At 3-1 that would have changed the game and I would have fancied us to win.
It’s not good enough. What is the excuse for Var not intervening?
Are they saying if the referee gave the goal, that they would have checked it?
How can the powers that be expect fans to engage with the league if there is no consistency and or accountability
I agree on the complaining part and had we been up 3-1 then its highly unlikely that Sassuolo would have bounced back as that could have ruined their morale.
It was Marelli as well who said this and some of it will be in the article here on the website but a bit more added as well but I’ll just copy paste it
“It’s a field assessment because there was contact. Loftus-Cheek placed his hands, but I don’t see any push,” said DAZN’s referee pundit Luca Marelli (via Calciomercato.com).
“Crezzini barely blew the whistle. This contact is below threshold; there isn’t a real push. This goal shouldn’t have been disallowed.”
Marelli spotted another mistake from the Milan-Sassuolo referee, claiming that the visitors should have been awarded a penalty kick for a Pavlović foul in the dying minutes, with the result set to 2-2.
“Pavlovic didn’t touch the ball, but with his right leg, he hit Cheddira’s left leg. VAR were too hasty. It was a penalty, and VAR should have intervened,” Marelli said.
Either way I personally think there should be universal rulesets for VAR and less on the personal ref VAR judgment as it simply causes too much confusion from time to time. Clear lines is needed.
I guess I’m still confused.
So why would the ref not just give the goal and if there was a problem, VAR would flag it?
It’s a mess.
I’m also sick of seeing penalties given for breathing on someone or someone blasting a ball off your hand. There is no logic.
Penalties were supposed to be awarded to make up for a clear foul
I am too and as things stand VAR isn’t really much of an improvement in my view even if the idea is ok there are far to many discrepancies in how its handled from my point of view. There is also variations in how its handled from league to league and that tells me there is a clear issue to be sorted out.
sounds to me like someone played to please the betting companies. Lol
BETSON?? wkwk
Totally agree,why remove your best player only to concede,another midfielder was needed yet your opponent equalized….
It’d be cool if they could award Milan the goal and they replay the last 20 minutes or so at 3-1. I think that’d be the most fair but also unrealistic lol.
The only thing they can do is to suspend the referee for a game or two. All we can hope for is that we suddenly are on the winning end of number of bad referee decisions come springtime when the league is decided