AC Milan 2-2 Sassuolo controversy, where referee went right and wrong

Former referee Andrea De Marco analyses the various controversial incidents in AC Milan 2-2 Sassuolo, giving the official verdict on where the officials went right and wrong in that game.

De Marco was the official attending this week’s edition of DAZN Italia show Open VAR, where the footage and audio of the conversations between Video Assistant Referees and the man with the whistle are aired.

A Week 15 match that hit a lot of headlines was Milan’s 2-2 draw with Sassuolo.

There were penalty appeals from Sassuolo for Strahinja Pavlovic’s coming together with Walid Cheddira.

“In this case, the referee did very well to evaluate the situation in the moment,” said De Marco, representing the Italian Referees’ Association.

“Prontera and Maresca in the VAR room also did well, because as you can see from the camera overhead, Pavlovic continues his run, while Cheddira doesn’t control the ball, instead pushing his leg out to run into his opponent.”

Notably, this is not what DAZN Italia’s own refereeing pundit Luca Marelli said when analysing the exact same incident.

Another incident that created more issues was the referee blowing the whistle too early when he thought Ruben Loftus-Cheek had pushed Fali Cande, meaning that when Christian Pulisic put the ball in the net, it was disallowed.

“In this case, the referee blows for a foul, the Milan player does put his hands on the Sassuolo player’s back, but the intensity of the push has to be evaluated,” explained De Marco.

“VAR cannot intervene, but considering the parameters we are setting for fouls this year, this cannot be considered a foul, and the goal should’ve been allowed to stand.”

If the referee has already blown the whistle, then the action has stopped and VAR cannot intervene.