VAR s major missed judgment caused controversy, referee s mistake caused Milan to suffer unfair punishment

Bologna's foul action against the AC Milan striker who just came on the court was very obvious. The referee Marcenaro performed poorly and scored only 4 points after the game. In the opening stage of the game, Rabiot made a physical contact with Zortea after Fofana passed the ball, but the referee called an offensive foul on the grounds that he raised his elbow too high - the playback showed that both sides did pull. In the 14th minute, Bologna striker Cambiagi scored and was cancelled due to offside. In the 7th minute of the second half, Gimenes complained that Lico Giannis pulled his jersey in the penalty area, but the replay showed that his arm was only lightly against his back.

In the 40th minute, the referee and VAR made a serious coordinated mistake: the referee first ordered Fluller to commit a foul on Nkunku and awarded a penalty. Then VAR referee Fabry asked him to watch the video again, but only provided Fluller's tackle without touching his ankle to steal the shot, ignoring Lukumi's previous obvious pushing action against Nkunku. In the end, both the penalty kick and the red card penalty were cancelled, but this key push foul was not reviewed.

referee expert Luca Marelli pointed out in his commentary: "VAR's major mistake is more serious than referee Marcenaro." At that time, Nkunku was first pushed by Lukumi from behind, but the referee did not make any statement; then he fell to the ground while fighting for the two penalty kicks, and the referee awarded a penalty kick instead. VAR only guided the referee to review the second contact - an action that did not constitute a foul, but completely missed the first more obvious push foul.

Marelli emphasized: "Lukumi's push against Nkunku is a clear foul, and a red card should be awarded. Nkunku had already formed a one-on-one strike at that time, facing the goalkeeper. Lukumi pushed people from the rear and did not touch the ball, which fully met the penalty criteria for destroying the obvious goal opportunity (DOGSO). VAR should have allowed the referee to review two consecutive moves, but the screen was wrongly presented, resulting in a serious misjudgment in the end."

This controversial penalty also directly triggered strong protests from Milan coach Allegri, who was sent off for objection.