Italian sports papers confirm Federico Dimarco deserved to be sent off in Fiorentina-Inter and explain why VAR didn’t intervene in the final incident that led to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s winner.
There was tension at the Stadio Franchi last night. Fiorentina complained about at least two controversial incidents during the match. The first one involved Dimarco, who caused a penalty kick in the first half with the Nerazzurri 2-0 up.
Referee Paolo Valeri did award a penalty to Fiorentina but didn’t show the Inter defender a red card, which according to all Italian sports papers, the Italy defender deserved.
DAZN referee pundit Luca Marelli has also said that ‘he can’t explain’ why Dimarco wasn’t sent off.
There was more controversy as Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Italiano complained about a potential Edin Dzeko foul on Nikola Milenkovic in the action that led to Mkhitaryan’s winner. In this case, Gazzetta and Il Corriere Dello Sport didn’t see a clear error from Valeri and VAR.
Not being a clear and obvious error and having Valeri judged Dzeko’s challenge from the pitch, VAR could not intervene, so Inter’s late winner stood.
Nevertheless, Il Corriere Dello Sport paper said the performance from the match official was ‘a disaster.’