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.”