Italian referee Massimiliano Irrati, who was in charge of VAR for Barcelona-Manchester United said two years ago that the ‘most challenging thing’ is to decide whether to call the official for an on-field review.
The Catalans and the Red Devils complained during their meeting at Camp Nou on Thursday and were not impressed with Mariani’s officiating.
Xavi said in his post-match press conference that he doesn’t know what to do to get a penalty in European competitions, mentioning another incident that occurred against Inter at San Siro in October.
On the other hand, Ten Hag said Barcelona defender Jules Kounde deserved to be sent off for a foul on Marcus Rashford.
Irrati was in charge of VAR on Thursday night, with his compatriot Maurizio Mariani on the pitch. Irrati did not call Mariani for an on-field review for a potential Barcelona penalty and what he told La Domenica Sportiva almost two years ago could explain his choice.
“VAR can avoid errors, especially offside and other situations that could ruin a referee’s performance,” he said.
“It wasn’t easy to change the mentality, especially at the beginning.
“One of the most challenging things to do is identify a clear error. Something that you’d show to 100 people and all of them would say the same thing. You can understand that it’s not easy to make this assessment in five or ten seconds.
“The risk is to think the situation is so clear that it must be shown to the on-field referee, but then you may realise that it was not as clear.
“However, the best referee must be on the pitch, because if he is officiating well, VAR can rest for the entire match. Who is on the pitch wastes physical energies, who is at VAR wastes much more mentally.”
Irrati has often been used at VAR for important games in Italy and Europe and is regarded as one of the best VAR referees in Europe. He was part of the team of referees representing Italy at the World Cup in Qatar.
Mariani refereed Barça and United for the first time in his career but made his Champions League debut in a 2-0 win Real Madrid win against RB Leipzig in 2022. He has only officiated three matches in Europe’s elite competition in his career but has 130 games in Serie A.
Born in Rome in 1982, Mariani made his debut in Italy’s top flight in 2012-13, averaging 4.62 yellow cards per game.