Milan coach Stefano Pioli was furious after the 1-1 draw with Udinese. ‘There’s no doubt, the goal was handball and should’ve been disallowed. It’s a serious mistake from the referee and not the first time.’
The Rossoneri fumbled a lead and another couple of points this evening against relegation strugglers, as after Rafael Leao’s opener, Destiny Udogie bundled over the line from close range.
Udogie seemed to push the ball with his arm and there was a VAR check after the goal, but opted not to call the referee for an on-field review.
“There’s no doubt, it’s a clear handball on the goal,” Pioli told DAZN.
“The Udinese player scores with his hand. It’s frankly unlikely the VAR didn’t see it, so this is a serious error that proved decisive for the final result.
“It’s true we didn’t put in an exceptional performance, but the goal should’ve been disallowed. We can only try to do better with what we can control, but when you say my players looked irritable and tense, that’s because they saw situations that were not good.
“It was handball. VAR is there to avoid these errors, so this is not acceptable and it’s not the first time we have been penalised. I am just saying it’s not the first time we have been penalised by such a clear incident, because the goal was scored with his hand.”
Refereeing pundit Luca Marelli of DAZN agreed he could not understand why the VAR had not alerted the referee to the potential handling offence and suggest an on-field review.
Beyond the equaliser, Pioli admits there are problems with Milan, particularly when they take the lead.
“It’s a situation I am evaluating too, it’s happened too many times now that we broke the deadlock and then didn’t bring home the points. At a certain stage, we just stop attacking. We sat too deep in the second half.”
Rabbia Pioli: “Mano di Udogie evidente, errore grave che ci ha danneggiato. A che serve il VAR?” https://t.co/qFZKbdJ6D9
— TUTTOmercatoWEB (@TuttoMercatoWeb) February 25, 2022
Clearly the VAR ref was sleeping when Leao pushed a defender to the ground and scored…. Poli should have woken him up then.
Pioli, stf up! You are not able to have an plan B when things dont go our way. And keep a team motivatet even against “smaller” sides!! Only poor Mentality guys to look for excuses.
Im die hard milanfan and its not a coincidents, pioli never won a trophie. We have to take the next step and hire a winning mentality coach.
LOL @ the guys critizicing Pioli
When Pioli complains, which is weird, it is because things are getting out of control. Yes, Milan did not play well but that handball was seen on the radio broadcasting. Terrible mistake again and Milan punished
@Interello Was this the first football game you have seen? No foul by Leao at all. The defender was falling to the ground on his own. He was running with a crouching stance even before Leao touched it.
The handball is not a subjective thing. It clearly hit the attacker’s arm.
Milan weren’t good today, but these kind of mistakes cannot be made by VAR
On screen it said VAR reviewed the situation for possible handball before the goal. What were they reviewing if they couldn’t see that handball? I would love to see a credible report on the situation if they can provide one..
You could ofc criticise Milan for not winning by two goals or more. But against a side like Udinese this is not easy. It is not great, but it should be enough winning by one goal, should be that is. Suspend the VAR officials, maybe they will decide more carefully in the future.
@Interello worry about your own side chump.
Inter milano is corupt and they buy all refferees. Napoli will have tough game with atalanta
the way pioli cry whenever he loses is something else. this is a guy that won again inter and he said he like to win this way. but whenever the lose its the referee . he should work on his player so that call score more goals.
@eni
What are you talking about??!
@Interello LOL
Imagine if Milan had not been completely screwed v spezia or in this game unfairly. Thats 5 points lost unjustly….
Zoro caloro: they simply are not good enough, because juve can also say where they dropped 10-15 points in season start mostly
Juve are dropping points because they are just plain bad, Milan are dropping points because of clear corruption / astronomical levels of incompetence from referee’s. I’m leaning towards corruption, need to bring in a full roster of referee’s from another country to stop juve / inter fixing the league