‘Three clear penalties denied’ – Italian media hammer referee and VAR in Milan-Bologna

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.

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.”