Italian refereeing experts explain why VAR made those two contentious penalty decisions in favour of Juventus against Verona.
The match was decided by a deflected Moise Kean strike, but the focus was mainly on two incidents in the Bianconeri penalty area in the second half.
On the first, the ball struck Danilo on the hand from point-blank range, and although his arm was raised in an unnatural position, VAR considered it to be an unfair punishment with that change of direction.
Crucially, as explained by DAZN’s former referee Luca Marelli and Gianpaolo Calvarese at Sky Sport Italia, the ball was not going towards the goal either, making it a less decisive block.
Danilo was reacting to the original shot from Miguel Veloso, but it was redirected straight at his hand from point-blank range by Pawel Dawidowicz, effectively after it had already gone past the Juve player.
“It would’ve been different if Danilo had touched the ball directly from Veloso’s shot.”
Nonetheless, it still might’ve warranted a VAR on-field review so the referee could make that judgment himself.
As for the second incident, the referee did award a penalty for Leonardo Bonucci’s high foot on Simone Verdi.
However, it was revoked following an on-field review because the footage clearly shows Bonucci got the ball first.
“He touches the ball and then it is Verdi who fouls Bonucci, so it is correct to revoke the penalty and give a free kick to Juve,” added Marelli.