The VAR team made the decision not to recommend that Luca Pairetto change his decision after Cacace’s foul on Kyle Walker in the Empoli game, and the reasons have come to light.
During Open VAR on DAZN – a programme which goes through the controversial incidents from over the weekend – Elenito Di Liberatore (representing the AIA) analysed and commented on the video of Cacace’s foul on Walker in Empoli-Milan.
The former assistant explained: “It was correct not to intervene from a VAR point of view because the intensity is missing. Therefore, although there may be a ‘bad image’, it is correct not to intervene for the review. The yellow would have been correct.”
The reason for the missed red card for Cacace is, therefore, ‘lack of intensity’. In the rules of the game of football, however, this term does not exist. And, if it did exist, it would be difficult to objectively measure the intensity of such a foul.
As MilanNews writes, Rule 12 on page 97 says: “A tackle or a contrast that endangers the safety of an opponent or that is committed with disproportionate force or brutality is punished with a red card.”
On the clip, the VAR chief Sala’s thought process in real time can be heard, and he deems that there was ‘not much intensity’ in the challenge.
Il contatto tra Cacace e Walker in #EmpoliMilan 🔎
A #OpenVAR si analizza la scelta di Pairetto #DAZNSerieAShow #DAZN pic.twitter.com/LPxXGFzKjy— DAZN Italia (@DAZN_IT) February 9, 2025
That’s a red, any day of the week! The fact that it was not even a yellow is also concerning, but that is a mistake that VAR is designed to correct.
Career threatening, high tackles need to be eradicated from the game and decisions like this, are allowing them to carry on..
If its happens to be a Milan player that make such tackle it’ll results to red card, they always look for one excuse or the other to prevent themselves from blame and why not overturned that of Tomori due to offside
Poor officiating
so basically he said, what i wrote a few days ago: ‘if Walker stays on the ground for 2-3 mins (maybe add some painfull screaming) then its red’ instead the VAR puni.sh Walker for his fair play
No doubt it’s а very dangerous situation, but IMO it was completely unintentional and unexpected for the Empoli player as well. Walker was a mile away from the ball, on the ground and still somehow managed to be faster than him and in the process risk his own health. Still a clear red in VAR, no matter how unfortunate it was. Good thing it really was a weak blow, otherwise it could have easily been a career ender at Walker’s age.
F that intensity, the defender made a sold out for the tackle and that’s not enough for a card. This is despicable, coupled with the contradiction of not being able to give a yellow after a check then giving one to Gimenez after a check shows the level of indifference to the rules.