Gian Piero Gasperini went on a furious rant against the referee and VAR after Atalanta’s disallowed goal in a 4-1 defeat to Roma. ‘They are ruining the credibility of football. This is madness!’
La Dea saw their unbeaten run come to an end in the league after eight wins and two draws, including six consecutive victories going into this weekend.
Tammy Abraham scored within the opening minute and it was all downhill from there, as Nicolò Zaniolo scored on another counter-attack, Chris Smalling met a free kick at the back post and Abraham added another late on.
Luis Muriel’s strike was deflected for 2-1 and Duvan Zapata thought he had equalised, but it was disallowed for Jose Luis Palomino’s offside position.
“We certainly made mistakes and conceding a goal in the opening minute after a bunch of ricochets, much like against Milan and Villarreal, makes it difficult,” Gasperini told DAZN.
“However, as in all those cases, the team did recover and was playing with purely one-way traffic. That incident changed the game and I demand an explanation.”
Palomino was the one offside on the Duvan Zapata goal, which hit Cristante to go in from point-blank range. Palomino was behind Cristante and video footage suggests he did not touch the ball or Cristante.
“If Palomino didn’t touch the ball, then why is it offside. If Cristante got the ball, then what difference does it make? Are we kidding, here? If Palomino doesn’t touch the ball, then it is not interfering with play, he is behind Cristante,” ranted a furious Gasperini.
“We would then have been at 2-2 with 20 minutes to go, it’s a very different game with the momentum behind Atalanta. Don’t get me wrong, Roma might’ve won anyway, but that was a transformative moment of the match.
“If Palomino didn’t touch the ball, then it’s madness to disallow that. Madness. Once again, have we changed the rules and nobody told us? The referee told us Palomino touched it and he was offside. If that’s not true, then what happened?
“This sort of thing takes credibility away from the sport. Palomino did not touch the ball at all. This is madness! He didn’t touch Cristante either, he was behind him, so not interfering with play.
“I lost 4-1 and come here to talk to you, so why don’t the referees come here and explain themselves too? Why not the VAR? They are ruining the credibility of football.
“If they tell me it’s a mistake, we’re unlucky, but don’t try telling me that is the rule. Otherwise it has to be the rule always. What are we talking about here?”