Luca Marelli, referee commentator for DAZN, analyzed the direction of the match in Monza-Inter, characterized by three penalties: “Despite a 5-1 result, I didn’t find Rapuano very convincing. Of the three penalties, only one was called, for me we need to avoid penalties on marginal contacts. But we’ll see them calmly.
In the first penalty the contact is clearer, it took a while for Rapuano to go to the monitor: there is contact between the arm and the ball. I too had the same doubt until a certain shot, from which you can see the left hand at shoulder height. In these conditions the penalty kick is practically automatic, right.
On the disallowed goal against Pessina, the ‘beauty’ of the semi-automatic offside is its precision. In this house there would never have been certainty without technology: instead we can say that the offside is a few centimetres, because the offside is not with Pessina’s hip but also with his shoulder. In this case we can only wait for the technology and what the machine decides.
On the two penalties in the final, one for each side, we are linked to the concept expressed by Allegri: the judgment is subjective. The contacts are there in both cases, but they are very light. A definitive decision must be made: either all contacts in the penalty area are penalties, and then we will have 200 per championship, or these cannot be penalties. To me they don’t seem like penalties, having said that the VAR doesn’t intervene because Rapuano decides.”