Atalanta director general Umberto Marino felt there was a ‘serious error’ on the winning Fiorentina goal and VAR should’ve intervened to disallow it.
The Coppa Italia quarter-final was decided with the last kick of the game, as after a pair of Krzysztof Piatek penalties and great Davide Zappacosta and Jeremie Boga strikes, Nikola Milenkovic scored on the half-volley to win 3-2.
There was a very long wait for VAR to check both a potential Jack Bonaventura handball and his offside on the assist, but ultimately gave the all-clear.
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“I can only congratulate Fiorentina and accept what happened,” Marino told Sport Mediaset after last season’s finalists were eliminated.
“There are games when you get the feeling the pitch is an uphill struggle for you and nothing is going to go your way.
“Fiorentina always seem to have penalties against us, I don’t know if they were the right decision or not, but it’s the third goal where we have serious problems.
“Merih Demiral told me there was no foul for the free kick that sparked the goal, but I also have to ask if that Marten de Roon touch was sufficient to put Bonaventura back onside, then I have evidently understood nothing about football over all these years.
“Mistakes can happen even with VAR, unfortunately they are happening a bit too often, including in Serie A. Not seeing an offside like that is in my view a serious error.
“It is disappointing to miss out on a semi-final because of an incident like that at the 93rd minute. It is a serious error, I repeat, but errors are part of the sport.
“We simply have to accept them and move on.”
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) February 10, 2022