In the chaotic finale of Milan-Pisa, Milan suffered yet another refereeing error this short season: on the through ball to Nzola, who escapes Athekame and beats Maignan one-on-one in the box, Pisa striker Moreo literally tackles Gabbia, ignoring the ball and the play. It was a full-on rugby-style tackle that Zufferli missed and the VAR did not alert the on-field referee to, partly because the Rossoneri defender, despite being extremely vocal in protests after the goal, did not stay on the ground. He did not exaggerate, exactly as referee designator Rocchi expects, as relayed via Milan News today.
The result? VAR missed a clear, indisputable incident. A replay from an overhead camera, which we cannot post for obvious TV copyrights reasons but is easily found on social media, clearly shows the foul: Moreo hits Gabbia from behind, tackling him and bringing him down with a two-handed push on the back. In Lecce, a goal by Gabbia was disallowed for a similar two-handed push on a Lecce defender, who stayed on the ground to draw the attention of referee and VAR. Today, from Lissone, no call was made.
Another headache for the AIA referee designator. It is the eighth round of Serie A, and the well, after the Gimenez incident, has already been thoroughly poisoned. A few days later, again at San Siro, the choice is made not to intervene. Waiting for a response that will hopefully come with Open VAR, one can only observe that, in the end, and it is unfortunate to say, players are not wrong to exaggerate to attract attention after controversial incidents.
