Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino shouts encouragement from the touchline during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Fiorentina at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 10, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino shouts encouragement from the touchline during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Fiorentina at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 10, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Monza head coach Rafaelle Palladino insists that he is not angry with the referees, but rather the VAR protocol after Inter were awarded a controversial corner kick, which resulted in the game’s opening goal during the 2-1 Nerazzurri win in San Siro on Monday night. 

Fiorentina were beaten 2-1, just a few days after they had won 3-0 against Simone Inzaghi’s side in Tuscany. The controversial goal went down as an own goal by Marin Pongracic. Rolando Mandragora and Marko Arnautovic were responsible for making it 2-1. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Palladino angry at VAR protocol after controversial Inter goal

Stills show that the full ball had crossed the byline, which should have meant a goal kick for Fiorentina, but play briefly continued and Inter won a corner instead. The opening goal came as a direct result of the set-piece. 

Goalline technology only applies between the two goal posts, which means that referees do not receive an automatic notification when the ball crosses the byline, unless a goal has been scored. 

As there was no foul committed, and as VAR does not intervene for goal-kick/corner disputes, there was nothing that the video assistants could have done, which is why Palladino is so frustrated. 

“I never talk about referees, I don’t judge them and I promised myself I would never judge a refereeing error. But we definitely got a bit angry about their goal,” Palladino said during his post-match press conference, reported via TMW

“I don’t want to get angry with the referee, but with the (VAR) protocol,” he continued. 

“If we have a tool that is there to help referees make fewer mistakes, we can’t fail to intervene on an objective error. The ball went out by about 20 cm. These are decisive details.

“The protocol says that VAR can’t intervene. I agree that it shouldn’t intervene on everything, but this is not good, because we find ourselves arguing and going home angry.”

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ByPeter Young

Peter Young is a Senior Reporter with Football Italia.

5 thought on “Palladino angry with lack of VAR after controversial Inter goal: ‘20cm out’”
  1. Investigate these calls! UEFA should step in. No more Italian referees in International tournaments or UCL matches until they fix their officiating errors!

  2. Inda – Keep talking. Was it Marotta league when FIO got a penalty after Kean pulled Darmian’s shirt? HOw about the corner that Leverkusen got when they were offside? Where ar you then? Sounds like typical Italian hypocrisy to me?

  3. Pietro, like the last scudetto from inda. 6 penalties arwaded where 4 were an error, every second game dubious calls for inda. season after season

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