There were two major controversial incidents that infuriated Lazio in tonight’s Serie A match with Milan, as there were penalty appeals on Mike Maignan and Luca Pellegrini saw red.
The Stadio Olimpico crowd was fired up and aiming most of its ire at the officials, led by referee Marco Di Bello.
In the first half, Maignan came out to clear the Alessandro Florenzi back-pass and continued the slide until he collided heavily with Taty Castellanos.
Lazio wanted a penalty, but the referee and VAR maintained that it was a natural continuation of the motion after he had cleared the ball and at that moment Castellanos could not have benefited because Matteo Gabbia already had possession.
#LazioMilan | al 12 grosse proteste Lazio per il contatto #Maignan / #Castellanos (📸 DAZN): quello che fa la differenza tra un’uscita negligente (quindi fallosa) e lo scontro di gioco (non falloso) è sia la distanza tra i due al momento dell’intervento sul pallone del portiere… pic.twitter.com/chdA5rM1oy
— Denis Errori Arbitrali (@erroriarbitrali) March 1, 2024
DAZN’s refereeing pundit Luca Marelli agreed with this interpretation and felt there was no further action to be taken.
The Aquile were again angered when Pellegrini received his second yellow card for a foul on Christian Pulisic.
In this instance, Castellanos was involved once more, left with a knock to the face in a collision with Ismael Bennacer.
Pellegrini seemed to assume play would be halted and was trying to shepherd the ball out at the touchline.
However, the referee did not blow the whistle and Pulisic pounced to steal it, so Pellegrini pulled the American back by the shoulders and jersey.
As play was not stopped, the yellow card was allowed to stand.
Lazio are down to 10-men against AC Milan as Luca Pellegrini sees red for this challenge… 😳 pic.twitter.com/XBZ8NBGZAq
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 1, 2024
Castellanos was left with a bloody nose from the incident, but DAZN pundit Marelli pointed out that the collision was behind the referee, so he was not in a position to see he had been hurt.
In this case, the fourth official should’ve been able to help out.
Lazio go down to 10 men! 🟥
Luca Pellegrini takes down Christian Pulisic for his second yellow of the match 😬 pic.twitter.com/JX5xd1YoHD
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 1, 2024
The moral of the story is play to the whistle!