The Italian media have criticised the refereeing performance during AC Milan’s win over Bologna, more specifically the penalty debacle.
With a few minutes left on the clock, Christopher Nkunku went down not once but twice inside the box after challenges from Lucumi and Freuler. A penalty was awarded after the second, but was bizarrely revoked despite the fact there seemed to be two separate appeals to analyse.
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It would be fair to say that Massimiliano Allegri did not agree with the decision, getting a red card after going on a tirade against the officiating crew, including doing his famous ‘taking off the jacket’ routine.
Three clear errors
Fabio Caressa commented on Sky about the decision that was eventually made, and he did not agree with what the VAR team and the referee determined.
“It’s a world record for the referee and VAR to make three errors in the same play. In my opinion, it’s one of the least understandable things,” he said (via MilanNews).
“I’ll explain to you technically how it should have happened: the first contact was there, considered a push by VAR, but the second contact wasn’t there according to the referee who went to the monitor.
“The only problem is that the previous contact was a blatant penalty that VAR didn’t intervene on because it was probably a push and can’t be intervened on.”
Fabio Ravezzani, the director of Telelombardia, gave his thoughts too: “I have never seen three clear penalties denied to the same team, one of which was ruled out by VAR. Milan managed to overcome this record injustice and showed they are very valuable.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) analysed things this morning too, writing: “A mix-up occurred between the referee and VAR: the former awarded a penalty for a foul by Freuler on Nkunku, but was then called to the monitor by Fabbri and removed it, without analysing Lucumi’s earlier clear push (more low contact) on the Frenchman: penalty and red card.”
Finally, the social media account Errori Arbitrali dissected the incident in a post: “Serious communication error between VAR and referee in the final moments: called to review the penalty awarded to the Rossoneri (correct procedure).
“But no suggestion was made to review what happened a couple of seconds earlier: a push and right-to-left contact by Lucumi on Nkunku, with the Rossoneri player in the lead, ahead with his entire body. Error, therefore, in not also showing this incident: in my opinion, a penalty was missed.”
Yes, the one that was shown on VAR replay was 100% not a penalty. Nkunku kind of tripped himself over his leg. You can’t give a penalty for that. But they showed the wrong situation, before it was 100% penalty.
The one that was shown to the ref by VAR is the side on view but they literally had a view earlier on the tv showing the full on view (different angle) which they could have used and shows Nkunku twice getting fouled.
Now that I looked backed at the incident, VAR even paused the frame when Freuler step on Nkunku for the ref so I’m sor sure what vAR called him over for 🤷♂️ or how that frame somehow overturns the decision
Baffling to me
I’ll check it again, but from what I saw in 10 replays he kicked Freuler, so it wasn’t a penalty. In any case that situation before was…
Hmm 🤔 I’ll check too.
But even before that, he was brought down eh.
Also serious question, what you make of the shout for the penalty for bringing done Puli in the box?
They do it every year multiple times to Milan. It is unbearable. Milan must issue a serious protest and case to end this injustice!!!
Appeal for Allegri red card
Why? He’s being abusive to the officials whether they made a mistake or not. That’s a separate incident to the penalty.
This. And he’s probably going to get two matches. Completely useless for coaches and players to get red carded for protesting. I’ve never seen a referee change his call because a coach or a player yells at them.
I hope he does it every time there is such a bad decision against Milan.
Appeal to Allegri to act like a grown man and not like an angry teenager. No matter if there was penalty or not (which he can’t know for sure at the moment anyway) you can’t lash out like that with the referees. You give bad example to your players, you get penalized to miss at least 1 game, possibly the Napoli game as well. They didn’t give him a red because he confronted the decision, but because he offended them.
So his red is deserved, but there should be a short-term ban for the VAR from Serie A. He showed only 1 bad angle for the 2nd foul play. Even there the contact is visible. The second foul was a referee’s decision – it wouldn’t be an obvious error if he decided to disregard it, but VAR shouldn’t have interfered because there is contact. For the first one the ref probably decided to keep the play until the very end in case of a goal. At the time of the review on screen he has probably already forgotten the first offense.
Grow a pair.
Nkunku did not trip himself… There was contact on his lower foot…
Yes, and whose foot was on the floor and who was moving his? That situation is described by most today as not a penalty. The last contact . Now before this I didn’t see anything. Lucumi one is a foul.
Not sure how that’s three penalties as the title refers to…
I can see why the Nkunku decision is overturned. I thought there’s some minimal contract but he’s trying to get caught and he absolutely throws himself theatrically. If that went against us at the other end we’d be livid.
That said, the first one definitely seemed like a penalty to me and I’m surprised they didn’t look at that. Nkunku’s ended up proving why footballers stay on the ground and roll around there; because getting up and trying to make another chance, instead of making the VAR people look at the first one, has absolutely cost him there!
Perhaps they’re alluding to the Pulisic denied penalty?
Or the Santi shot that the Bologna defender blocked on the ground with his hand.
There were plenty of instances this match.
Foul on Rabiot on minute 3 of the game should have been a red card offence and a sending off.
Even Modric’s goal took ages for VAR to confirm.
They were trying their best to not allow Milan to win.
It was a clear penalty but it was never awarded…
They did this last season, against Inter, not repeating same thing… well, we’d just keep winning
d first was a penalty & second was also a penalty there was a contact in d second & in d box 18 it is clearly a penalty dt is y defenders are always careful in d box 18 BCOS any little or silly contact leads to automatic penalty
Nkunku moved his foot and there was contact. If a striker trips over defenders leg it is obviously not a penalty.
Something is very suspicious with referees in Italy.
Referees are not gods. I don’t understand why Italian refs dish out the red card to coaches every time they complain about clear errors made by refs. In England, refs go to the touchline to explain decisions to the coaches when situations like this happen. Also, I don’t understand how the VAR concluded that Nkunku tripped, and was not felled by Freuler. The same Italian VAR officials who are always very careful when used in UEFA competitions, make blatant errors in the league. It’s a shame! No one knows what was said, but, the FA has to caution the refs. Sending coaches to the stands, when they protest, doesn’t help the game, at all.
There should be a gambling investigation going on. Who had big money on the under in Macau? Or on exact number of goals scored? The whole game was reffed oddly. Early, ref gave a number of yellows to Milan. Some were deserved, but frequently not called early. Then late, after Milan is up 1-0, VAR does not call pens on either Puli or Nkunku. The whole thing smells. If organized crime wants to fix a match, they go after the ref and VAR, not the players. We need strong and transparent gambling regs. We should know who bet on everything and suspend any ref or VAR involved in any troubling patterns. Plus offer big rewards for tips leading to fixers being caught. In US, we have much more gambling legal all at once and many players being suspended.
Penalties against Milan: Always clear & obvious and beyond any discussion, no matter how soft.
Penalties for Milan: open to interpretation, 27 different angles of viewing and probably not even a penalty anyway since technically we’re all just energy and electrons can never even touch each other…
Another season, another refereeing error that ends up going against us…what else is new?
Suspend the refereeing team so that they learn to do a proper job. If Max can be red carded, the referees should also be penalized for bad decisions
I back that motion. Truly speaking, you’re absolutely right. If the coach can get a red for protest, the ref, and the VAR team should be suspended for their errors, too. It wasn’t just the Nkunku incident, Pulisic was pulled, but, the ref or the VAR, didn’t even look at it. Replay clearly showed the Bologna player doing that, after Pulisic passed him. Minimal contact or not, that brought him down in the box. If that was done outside the box, a foul would have been given in favour of Milan. The officials really fumbled, and, their errors were the main talking points after the game.
3 Huge Missed Calls in this Match, All Against Milan:
– In 3rd minute, Rabiot clearly held back by the last defender as he’s in on goal. Should have been red card.
– 76th min – Pulisic pulled down in the box. Should absolutely be PK and yellow.
– 90th min – Nkunku pulled back, pulled down, and then kicked down when he gets back up. PK given, ruled off by VAR.