Spezia President Philip Raymond Platek Jr welcomes AIA’s decision to suspend the referee and VAR of their game against Lazio and hopes ‘there will be no further penalising episodes’ in the final part of the season.
The Aquilotti suffered a 4-3 loss against Lazio on Saturday night, but the Bianconcelesti’s late winner was scored by Francesco Acerbi, who appeared to be in an offside position.
A VAR check didn’t take place and the goal was allowed to stand. It sparked protests from Roma boss José Mourinho and led AIA to suspend referee Luca Pairetto and VAR Luigi Nasca until the end of the season.
Spezia have released an official statement signed by their president Philip Raymond Platek Jr, following the decision from the Association of Italian Referees.
Referee and VAR suspended following controversial Lazio winner
“On Saturday night, a serious and unacceptable mistake was made, especially with the help of modern technologies that cost the League millions of Euros and that promise to allow matches to take place regularly, eliminating glaring referee oversights that can condition not only the result of a match but of an entire season,” the Spezia President said.
“We welcome the measure of the AIA, with which these days there have been continuous dialogues in respect of the institutional ways granted, to have explanations about an unlikely episode that could not be reduced to a simple error of evaluation, since it is an error caused by superficiality in the implementation of the procedures related to the VAR protocol that in turn has led to a wrong analysis of the action, with Acerbi’s position wrongly considered valid despite the progressive technology present in the rooms of Lissone.
“It is not in the style of this club to protest blatantly, but when certain decisions can have repercussions on the outcome of an entire season, wiping out the hard work of hundreds of people every day, it is impossible not to make our dissent heard, in respect of the history of this club, the city, and its fans.
“We hope, therefore, that in this final season there will be no further penalising episodes, that there will be a decisive improvement in the use of technology, and that the rules, clear and available to all, will always be applied uniformly and correctly, also making use of VAR, which cannot, however, be a penalising and discretionary tool, but on the contrary must certify and help the referee to apply the rules correctly, without ifs and buts.
“For our part, we can not go back in time, replay the game or change the result, so we can not do anything but focus on the upcoming commitments, aware that the goal we aspire to is close, but not yet reached and that to reach it as soon as possible all of us will have to continue to give everything we have without sparing ourselves, with players and staff on the field and our public to push them from the stands once again.”