Referees confirm Napoli deserved a penalty against Juventus

The refereeing authorities admit there was a mistake in not awarding a penalty to Napoli in their 3-0 defeat to Juventus for the foul on Rasmus Hojlund.

The incident caused controversy on Sunday at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin, when there were two clashes on the same set play in the penalty area.

Pierre Kalulu had a coming together with Antonio Vergara, then Hojlund seemed to be pulled down by Gleison Bremer, who had both arms around the striker.

As always in Serie A, the incidents were analysed in the Open VAR programme on DAZN Italia, and they confessed to an error from the VAR.

“Maurizio Mariani tells those in the VAR booth that he did not see the Bremer-Hojlund situation,” explained CAN figure and former referee Dino Tommasi.

“He refereed very well overall, in this situation, he simply didn’t see the second contact. The first between Kalulu and Vergara is very light and there are no clear parameters for a penalty.

“However, Bremer has his arm around Hojlund’s neck and drags him down. This is certainly a foul and it is an evident tug. Mariani asked why couldn’t evaluate it himself, so there should’ve been an On-Field Review for Mariani.”

The VAR in this case was criticised for being too hasty in completing the review, which the authorities confirm resulted in a mistake.

“The footage was pretty clear, the foul was evident. If it had been done properly and checked other camera angles, the referee would’ve been recalled to view it, especially as he told the VAR that he was unable to evaluate it himself on the pitch,” explained Tommasi.

“We have been working with all the referees in Serie A and B to award more penalties for these holds, which in turn should lead to far fewer of these incidents.

“This is an unsporting attitude that we want to debilitate.”