GdS: Genius or unsportsmanlike – Pavlovic causes great stir with penalty spot move

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.