The Italian Referees’ Association has decided not to punish referee Matteo Marchetti, who allowed Destiny Udogie’s illegal equaliser to stand against Milan on Friday.

The equaliser cost the Rossoneri the win and they now risk losing their spot at the top of the Serie A table, should Napoli pick up a win over Lazio this evening. Despite this, however, the AIA has decided that neither Marchetti nor the VAR official Marco Guida will be suspended.

As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Marchetti’s performance did not fully please the AIA but he is still considered to be one of the most promising referees. Regarding Udogie’s equaliser, the on-pitch footage was not clear and the Italian referee hadn’t seen the offending touch, so the goal still stood.

The AIA have essentially admitted the mistake, suggesting that the goal should’ve been disallowed, but neither Marchetti nor Guida had the right tools to make the correct decision.

This decision is likely to infuriate Milan fans, who feel robbed following the painful 1-1 draw.

8 thought on “Referee who allowed Udogie’s handball equaliser vs Milan won’t be suspended”
  1. It doesn’t matter if you’re a milan fan or not, anyone with an ounce of impartiality can see that two major refereeing/VAR mistakes have cost milan points this season.

    I know that Milan have not performed well enough in far too many matches, but it doesn’t excuse the faults by officials.

    Any other teams’ fans would have the same issues if it was happening to their team.

    VAR was supposed to be the answer to onfield mistakes but it’s making just as many, so what’s the point?

  2. I would favour totalling the errors corrected versus the errors unrecognised in matches involving VAR. After that we can all decide whether it has been worth using VAR.

  3. Hilarious. A match deciding error like that should’ve consequences for the referee. What’s wrong with suspending him for one or two matches? It won’t bring back the points but at least next time those refs will remember to look at footage with their eyes open.

  4. Italian football is a message and a joke to us here Nigerians for all these unprofessional refereeing

  5. If var is to exist then there should be a rule for on field coaches challenge. For example. Pioli has his little screen, reviews that and makes the challenge and shows where he sees the handball. Then they review again, if still they count is as a goal then you know it’s rigged lol

  6. VAR is a good thing. The people that use it are the ones at fault, not the technology. That udinese handball was blatant and and all evidence supports the suggestion that it was consciously ignored by the VAR referee. Yet, silence from AIA. “Just ignore it and they will forget and we’ll continue to get away with it again and again”

  7. At this point Milan needs to sue serie A and AIA, for damages, (dropped points and hurting chances of 1st spot). This has become a pattern for AIA and serie A, need to expose their corruption, because they ruin the sport any further.
    This bs causing the drop in viewership and team revenues. Sue them and it will stop really fast.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector