The opening Serie B game of the season ended 0-0 between Bari and Palermo, but was certainly not short on drama with two red cards, a missed penalty and last-gasp winner disallowed by VAR.
This was a very early promotion showdown between two of the sides expected to push for the step up to Serie A next summer.
It might’ve ended goalless, but it was absolutely packed with incident and controversy.
Palermo hit the post in the opening 120 seconds with Aljosa Vasic, then Bari went down to nine men as Mattia Maita was shown a straight red after VAR review for his ankle-breaking tackle on Vasic, followed by a second yellow for Valerio Di Cesare.
That booking came for wrestling Matteo Brunori to the ground and giving away a penalty, which Francesco Di Mariano then blasted over the bar for Palermo at the 68th minute.
At the 10th minute of stoppages, Palermo thought they had won it with Brunori tapping in an Alessio Buttaro roll across the six-yard box.
However, after three minutes of VAR check, it was disallowed because Brunori’s knee was offside, truly a matter of millimetres.
The game finally ended after 112 minutes of football, two red cards, 11 yellow and a penalty.