Vitiello: Why Milan are penalised by referees despite contrary narrative

AC Milan have been no strangers to referee controversies this season, and Antonio Vitiello has looked into the matter.

Things are never simple involving Milan. Last season, it was managerial and player issues, and this season, it is a case of refereeing issues. Paulo Fonseca complained about officials during his tenure, so it is nothing new, really.

However, this season, things seem to be more frequently chaotic. There was an issue with Alexis Saelemaekers, as well as the problems with Strahinja Pavlovic, this weekend. Past that, there was the issue with the Christopher Nkunku penalty decision.

Favouritism questioned

In a season where things have been regularly positive, there have been a lot of questions about the performances of the referees. However, Massimiliano Allegri has not tried to vilify them and spoke about this weekend’s game as an example, a different approach to Fonseca.

Today, Vitiello has looked into the matter for MilanNews and what has been happening.

“The rhetoric that AC Milan are favoured by the referees because that’s what they decided has been rife since the beginning of the season. But who decides? Let us know, because there’s been a political vacuum at the Rossoneri for some time now, and everyone knows it.

“It’s funny, though, that the message is being conveyed that AC Milan are favoured, when in fact it’s the exact opposite. Against Lazio, for example, it’s clear that there wasn’t a penalty awarded to the Biancocelesti; it was obvious to go to VAR, and in fact, the AIA confirmed it.

“However, the media is leaking that AC Milan were favoured; Lazio even declared a press blackout and posted a post saying “the images speak for themselves.” Indeed, if anyone had seen those images, they’d know there was no penalty.

“Pavlovic is facing away, already falling, and Romagnoli kicks from 30 centimetres. It’s truly absurd to even think about a penalty.

Photos by Marco Rosi – SS Lazio/Getty Images and Errori Arbitrali

“Here, however, we’ve collected some incidents that went unnoticed but were actually serious errors, certainly not for a favoured Milan. In Lecce-Milan, a penalty was missed on Ricci; in Milan-Bologna, a truly sensational penalty was missed on Nkunku.

“In Atalanta-Milan, there was a red-card foul by Lookman on Fofana, but here too, everything went unnoticed. In Milan-Pisa, the away goal came from a foul on Gabbia when the ball was far away. Furthermore, against Milan, four penalties have been awarded in 13 games to date, not bad for a “favourite” team.