Open VAR reveals conversation between officials for Inter penalty in derby

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the penalty decision in Sunday’s derby, and now the transcript of the discussion between officials is out.

As happens every Tuesday, DAZN released a new episode of ‘Open VAR’ a program analysing some refereeing incidents from the most recent matchday of Serie A. Among them was the penalty awarded to Inter in Sunday’s derby against Milan, which has divided the opinion of experts.

In the 71st minute, the VAR chief Aureliano called referee Simone Sozza over to the monitor. After reviewing contact in the penalty area between Pavlovic and Thuram, he awarded a penalty to the Nerazzurri. Other incidents – like a Lautaro elbow and Acerbi hair-pull – went unpunished.

The conversation between the match official and the VAR room has emerged as part of the Open VAR programme and it reveals word for word what was said to reach the eventual decision. The dialogue been relayed by MilanNews.

Aureliano (VAR): “For me, this is a penalty. Let’s review… yes, it’s very clear. Simo, I recommend an OFR [On-Field Review] for a possible penalty in favour of Inter.”

Sozza arrives at the monitor.

Aureliano: “I’ll start from the point of contact and then send it to you in dynamics. It’s a reckless challenge by number 31 Pavlovic.”

Sozza: “The tackle is fine. We’ll see at normal speed. Penalty is fine.”

Aureliano: “It’s number 31 Pavlovic. It’s a reckless challenge.”

Present in the DAZN studio, referee designator Gianluca Rocchi commented on the incident and gave his thoughts on how the referee and the VAR room eventually reached their call.

“We intervene with the OFR when the foul is reckless. The VAR is right to call the referee who then decides independently. It is a challenge worthy of a yellow card and rightly so, a penalty and a yellow card are awarded,” he said.

“Otherwise, if it were a normal contract on the ball being passed, we would not have intervened, it would not even be a penalty. The recklessness, let’s say the intensity of the foul that warrants a yellow card, leads us to issue an OFR, otherwise every contact would be a penalty and that is not the case.

The fact that Thuram had already crossed and the contact came later doesn’t change anything. Last year we had a similar incident in Fiorentina-Lazio and we awarded a penalty. This year, however, we missed a penalty in Lazio-Juventus and we said clearly that it was a penalty.

“Sometimes we make mistakes, but it’s not like if we miss a penalty then the others are mistakes. This type of intervention that involves recklessness is considered a penalty for us.”