VAR verdict on Serie A Inter-Milan and Fiorentina-Juventus penalty incidents

Refereeing designator Gianluca Rocchi explains some of the more controversial decisions in Serie A Week 12, including the penalty calls in Inter-Milan and Fiorentina-Juventus.

As with every Serie A round, the incidents are analysed and dissected on DAZN programme Open VAR, which includes the audio of the officials as they worked through those moments in real time, and the footage they had available to them.

The first was in Fiorentina 1-1 Juventus, when Daniele Doveri awarded a penalty for a tussle between Dusan Vlahovic and Pablo Mari.

It was later revoked following the VAR On-Field Review, as Vlahovic was adjudged to have started the reciprocal foul.

“It is a complex incident, and on first viewing I would’ve done what Doveri did too,” confessed refereeing designator Rocchi.

“However, when you see it from another angle, you can tell Vlahovic was very clever and held the Fiorentina player. The final decision to revoke the penalty is the correct one, especially as VAR provides the view from an angle that Doveri could not see.

“Doveri sees the Pablo Mari foul, but it is sequentially after the Vlahovic one.”

When it comes to the Serie A protocol for the VAR to intervene, Rocchi outlines that ‘clear and obvious error’ isn’t always the same.

“It’s not that if the referee has decided, then VAR cannot intervene. The use of technology has changed. When it was first introduced seven years ago, it was only for the most obvious mistakes, but what we want is to have the correct decision made.

“Now I tell my lads that an extra On-Field Review is better than not having one. It is such a balanced league, we must only give a penalty if it is 100 per cent.

“I’d be worried if I heard the officials say this was a penalty, even if there wasn’t much in it.”

There were some complaints from AC Milan too about the penalty awarded for the Strahinja Pavlovic sliding tackle on Marcus Thuram.

This was not spotted by the Serie A referee on the day, but awarded following the VAR review.

“We intervene when a challenge is imprudent, so quite correctly the VAR here tells the referee to decide autonomously after seeing it from every angle,” explained Rocchi.

“It is a bookable offence and also obviously a penalty. If it had been a normal contact after the ball had been released, it would not require an intervention, but the imprudent nature of the challenge is what calls for the On Field Review.”

Some had argued that the fact Thuram had already crossed and released the ball made the contact irrelevant to the Inter attacking move.

“No, it doesn’t matter. We have always been consistent on that, there was a similar incident in Fiorentina-Lazio last season, while this term we said clearly we made a mistake in missing another during Lazio-Juventus. We can make mistakes, but because we missed one doesn’t mean the others aren’t penalties too.”