Lecce President Saverio Sticchi Damiani hit out at the ‘diabolical use of VAR’ to disallow their last-gasp winner against Milan. ‘It allows them to ruin a fairy-tale and ruin this sport.’
The Salentini were trailing 2-0 at the Stadio Via del Mare at half-time to goals from Olivier Giroud and Tijjani Reijnders.
However, two goals in the space of four minutes got it back on track through Nicola Sansone and Lameck Banda.
After Giroud’s red card for dissent, Lecce had the ball in the net at the 94th minute with a stunning long-range Roberto Piccoli strike.
However, it was disallowed following a VAR On-Field Review, as Piccoli had stepped on Malick Thiaw’s foot, getting the space to turn and shoot.
“The final was a fairy-tale, a moment of magic that we had built for ourselves with hard work and was ruined by a diabolical use of VAR,” President Sticchi Damiani told DAZN.
“It is something I said a long time ago: if we use VAR to split hairs, then it must be done against Lecce, but also against every other team.
“The way it is being used currently is diabolical. Thiaw only suffers half a step on his foot and gets back up straight away, none of the Milan players protest.
“From now on, every time we concede a goal, we will seek out a foot getting trodden on to get it disallowed. After all, we’re bound to find one somewhere.”
As per the current regulations, the ‘Step On Foot’ is always given as a foul and often also a yellow card.
Both former referees and current pundits Luca Marelli and Gianpaolo Calvarese confirm that there was a foul on Thiaw sufficient to disallow the goal, as intent is irrelevant in these situations.
“I am talking about rules. If you want to find the tiniest detail, you will find it,” continued Sticchi Damiani when asked about the use of VAR.
“In some games, an incident is not even seen by VAR, in another like today it authorises them to ruin a football fairy-tale.
“Our club is in the game for passion, not business. This risks ruining this beautiful sport. This afternoon a shot from 35 metres out that allowed us to overturn Milan was ruined by this use of VAR.
“From now on, every single goal that Lecce have disallowed, I will ask to check the footage for any step on foot, even the tiniest one.”
Lecce was robbed of a great goal, no doubt.