Serie A referee Paolo Valeri admitted that he made a mistake by not suggesting that Atalanta’s Hans Hateboer should’ve been sent off for a foul on Milan’s Rafael Leao.
The incident occurred during the Rossoneri’s visit to Bergamo back in August. Leao was running down the wing, looking to break into the box when Hateboer flew in for a late challenge, completely missing the ball. The Atalanta midfielder was only shown a yellow card for the incident, which seemed to be worthy of a red on retrospect.
Speaking at Guglielmo Stendardo’s course at Luiss, Valeri discussed the incident and admitted the mistake he made in the VAR room.
“Yes, I made a mistake on Hateboer, I was on the VAR and that foul on Leão was red hot. A mistake, I’ll explain it: the player got up immediately, no one asked for anything, the game resumed almost immediately.
“That’s it, you get into a tunnel, you convince yourself of an idea, you make it your own and you end up making a mistake instead you have to be aseptic, forget about being a referee.
“It happened to me, it happened last year in Torino–Inter. We have to be more careful.”
The Serie A referee then explained who makes the decision regarding a clear and obvious error.
“If the episode is subjective and not objective, it cannot be reviewed by VAR. And since in the VAR we control everything, at the moment there is no challenge from the benches. Among other things, I don’t think it is a deterrent to controversy.
“If a referee goes to the monitor after a coach’s call and confirms his choice, what would happen? Today our young colleagues are obsessed with episodes, they show them to us at the training ground.
“In my day, our coaches, like the late Stefano Farina, used to talk to us about something else: how we were on the pitch, how we related to the players. The single episode was the last problem.”
The usage of VAR and quality of officiating in Serie A is an ever-hot topic and this season has proved no different, with coaches and fans alike regularly complaining about the decisions made by the referees.
Yep, we know.
If it was red why you did nor give it?
I am always amazed by the power of media. How they focus on particular issues.
This, right here, is the problem with football today. A tackle like that could break an ankle, or not. Now if a player rolls a few times on the pitch and screams like a ***** it’s gonna be a red but if he stands up like a man, limps for a few steps and shakes it off, then someone’s gonna get away with it.
Will anyone apologise for what happened in Samp-Milan game?
What about Empoli-Milan game?
Of course, I am not a hypocrite. Someone should apologise to Lecce as well for the game with Roma.
@ ROMAntic
Do you see anybody apologizing in this article?
@Milan Fan
He said, “I made a mistake.” What more do you want? What do you think the subtext is?
My point is: Where are the “I made a mistake” comments after the Empoli-Milan or Roma-Lecce games??
Anyway, the two of us are too pas(s)ionate to have this conversation here, where FI censors our every comment.
Mistakes against “bigger” clubs are always accentuated, that is A FACT. And I for one don’t bask in the privilege when my club gets it.
Honest of you to say that ROMAntic.
My original post was meant to read:
It was a foul against a player for one of the bigger teams so it is important, if it was the other way around, no one would care.
(please delete my original post)
Exactly, rechnin. You are spot on.
That typo though!🫣