Vincenzo Italiano was furious after Fiorentina’s 2-1 defeat to Verona, insisting VAR should’ve intervened to disallow the decisive goal over a ‘clear handling offence.’
The Viola had managed to cancel out the Darko Lazovic penalty with Gaetano Castrovilli’s first goal in almost a full year, but the game was decided by Tijjani Noslin.
There was a great deal of controversy even at the time, as Lazovic appeared to at least attempt to wave an arm onto the cross from the right, which was then cleared by Nikola Milenkovic into the path of Noslin.
However, although it seemed as if there might’ve been handball, VAR was unable to find footage giving incontrovertible evidence that there was contact, so the decision made on the field was allowed to stand.
“It’s a pity, because we went behind after our own naïve mistake and Noslin did well to take advantage of it, but then conceded a goal with a very clear handball,” Italiano told DAZN.
“We hit the woodwork yet again, we could’ve taken the lead in the first half and in the second conceded that goal. It could’ve gone very differently, some incidents just went against us today.
“This is a sport where the fewer mistakes you make, the better you do. Having said that, we gifted the first goal and the second should’ve been disallowed, as Lazovic clearly handled.”
Italiano focus turns to Club Brugge
Fiorentina inevitably had to rotate the squad today, as they were coming off a 3-2 Conference League semi-final win over Club Brugge and have the second leg next Wednesday.
“We must not make the same mistakes, as we saw how costly those can be. It will be a fiery atmosphere in Belgium and we cannot afford distractions. Playing every three days, the team has to rotate and recover.”
Speaking in his press conference, Italiano also revealed more injury concerns for Fiorentina, having already lost Riccardo Sottil for two months with a fractured clavicle.
“I hope it is nothing serious for Jack Bonaventura, but he wanted to come on and give his contribution.”