It was a chaotic and noisy weekend in Italy after a handful of VAR decisions created some controversy among not only Italian Serie A fans, but refereeing experts as well. It all started on Saturday, when Serie A leaders Inter faced Hellas Verona at San Siro. After a Lautaro Martinez opener, the Nerazzurri failed to score a second and French striker Thomas Henry scored the equalizer. The home team chased all three points, until they managed to score in the stoppage time with Davide Frattesi. However, the action at the beginning of the move that led to the goal saw Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni committing a foul on Verona's Ondrej Duda.
Davide Frattesi with a BIG goal for Inter in the 93rd minute 💥 pic.twitter.com/mSdE7f92fh
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) January 6, 2024
Both referee Michael Fabbri and VAR did not intervene and that created a lot of anger and launching a major VAR controversy among not only rival fans but experts, as the decision is really not understandable from the outside. A few minutes later in the game, the referee conceded a late penalty to Verona, but Henry failed to convert it and Inter won 2-1 after a crazy end of the match.
After the final whistle, Verona's sport director Sean Sogliano spoke to DAZN.
"It's impossible not to see that episode in the VAR room. It had to be disallowed, very clearly. It's not possible that the referee wasn't notified, who could have been in a confusing situation. We all wanted football to improve by introducing VAR, it's impossible that this goal wasn't disallowed. It's a lack of respect."
Italian former referee and current assistant of the Head of Italian Referee Association (AIA) Andrea Gervasoni spoke during the last episode of "Open VAR" on DAZN, a show where every single week a member of the AIA breaks down the most controversial calls from the previous the week, letting the viewers hear the conversations between the VAR and the referee. Usually that would mean that the Inter call would not have been discussed until the following Sunday, eight days after it happened.
On Sunday, however, Gervasoni spoke about the Verona episode because it was too big to ignore, and said: "We will analyze the episode to understand what happened and why the VAR did not intervene. It was a mistake? Absolutely yes. We will have to speak with VAR Luigi Nasca to understand if he considered Bastoni's intervention a body check, but he intentionally hit the opposing defender with his body. The goal should have been disallowed."
This episode followed some others that created noise over the past few weeks, such as when Marko Arnautovic scored for Inter against Genoa with a potential foul of defender Yann Bisseck in the first part of the attacking action, or others during the season like the goal scored by United States men's national team star Christian Pulisic scored back in October against the same Genoa, with the winger touching the ball with his right hand before scoring the winning goal.
These are some of the episodes that are difficult to explain to the public, given that the referees have the help of the VAR. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, after winning against Salernitana on Sunday, said something interesting on the topic.
"I have always said that VAR is subjective. I have been repeating it every year for years and I will say it again next Sunday. We must accept it as it is. The important thing is not to pass it off as objective. In tennis the ball hits outside or inside the line, and that is objectivity. Subjectivity is something else, like fouls. There is no point in discussing it because it makes no sense, we do our job and there is a referee commission that will evaluate their work. But we have to accept mistakes because they are part of the game."
Unlikely other countries such as England, for instance, in Italy VAR was generally accepted when it was introduced during the 2017-18 season by the whole football community. Fans, coaches, players, directors and referees were all mainly in favor of the VAR. However, after these discussed decisions, there are some controversial ideas about the VAR and some experts think that it needs to change as it is now. Despite the controversies, VAR is still accepted around the country, but it needs to be protected as these kind of mistakes don't help the whole referees community and the VAR itself.
The fallout from this specific incident is likely to be swift. Gervasoni saying that the VAR from the match, Luigi Nasca, will likely spend some time in Serie B before getting assigned to another top flight match.
"As in all teams we have complicated moments, so you have to lower your head and continue to work. We want to give him peace of mind, a few games in Serie B, as always happened for referees, assistants and VARists, to recover him in view of the rest of the season and let's see how he reacts."
The question remains as to whether actions like that are enough to maintain confidence in VAR, or to ensure that the VAR process ends up with more consistent results.
