Refereeing chief Antonio Damato responds to Daniele De Rossi’s complaints about the Roma penalty incident against Lecce, confirming VAR would not have intervened either way.
Damato, vice-commissioner of the CAN refereeing association, was the guest on DAZN for the analysis of VAR footage and audio from Serie A Week 30 fixtures.
The incident that caused the most controversy was in Lecce 0-0 Roma, when De Rossi was furious that a penalty was not awarded for a challenge on Nicola Zalewski.
The audio from the VAR was played on television, confirming their analysis of the footage.
They decided that Zalewski had already taken his shot, then goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone crashed into his own teammate Alexis Blin, who in turn collided with Zalewski.
Damato agreed with the analysis of the VAR, which was that “it was a coming together” rather than a foul.
“If the referee had awarded a penalty on the field, then the VAR would probably have made a silent check and not overturned the decision.”
This was precisely what upset De Rossi, who could not fathom why some incidents can be penalties and others not, depending entirely on interpretation.
“I like football in which this is not a penalty, let’s be clear, I like it, but it has to be consistent. Otherwise it becomes difficult for us and for those who are officiating,” De Rossi told DAZN this afternoon.
“This is a world when we see treading on a little toe being a penalty, a slight touch on a shoulder being a penalty, so it has to be consistent.”
Effectively, this current interpretation goes back to the legendary Vujadin Boskov comment from the 1990s: “It’s a penalty when the referee blows his whistle.”
Damato gave his response to De Rossi and others asking why the rules are so very vague.
“Football is a contact sport, so there are always going to be incidents that are not quite black or white and are to be interpreted on the pitch. The VAR must only intervene if there is a clear and evident error.
“If the referee had given a penalty to Zalewski, there was insufficient evidence to overturn it, just as there was insufficient evidence to change his decision this time.”
There was some controversy over the Federico Dimarco goal against Empoli, as Marcus Thuram was probably offside in the build-up, but Damato explained VAR could not intervene because an Empoli defender cleared it before the cross for Dimarco, making it a new APP (Attacking Possession Phase).
There is a differentiation between a deflection and a genuine attempt to play the ball.
Damato confirmed there was an error in Lazio–Juventus, as VAR should’ve called for an On-Field Review for the Gleison Bremer shirt tug on Mattia Zaccagni.
The VAR discussion shows they suggested it was irrelevant because the ball was behind them, but Damato argued Bremer showed no interest in the ball and should therefore have been punished.