Tommasi: «I’ll explain the VAR episodes of Cagliari Juventus»

Dino Tommasi, former referee and deputy commissioner of CAN, spoke about the VAR episodes of the match between Cagliari and Juventus

Yesterday evening the episode of Open Var relating to the 33rd day of the 2023-2024 Serie A championship. During the same Dino Tommasiformer referee and deputy commissioner of CAN, spoke about the VAR episodes of the match between Cagliari and the Juventus. His words:

PENALTY BY BREMER – «(From the field ed) Piccinini really missed the contact, Bremer together with Gatti go in opposition to Dossena. Bremer, late, makes a block with his left arm in the opposition; which is definitely outside the body, beyond the shoulder line. The player is in profile, this is definitely an irregular opposition. He makes himself bigger, he is late and covers precisely the space for the ball to pass after the Cagliari player’s header. It is opposition to a shot, in this case it is punishable with a direct free kick, i.e. a penalty».

HYPOTHESIS – «What if he had touched her head first? In this case, with such a broken arm that he made a block, it would still be a penalty. If he, while controlling the ball, saw it splash onto his arm then it would be a different situation. In this case he blocks, it is really opposition with the arm that is outside the body so it is punishable».

COMMUNICATION – «The communication from the referee team? Well done Var, aVar and referee. They look for the best possible room to draw the best solutions to Piccinini in this case for the evaluation of the situation. This applies to both the point of contact and the dynamics, they offer the referee the best room to make the correct decision”.

CONTACT MINA-ALCARAZ – «Both Piccinini and the assistant whose voice you hear make the same decision. It is a very complex situation, international bodies speak of “illegal use of arms” in all those situations in which even in an attempt to play the ball. He succeeds, Piccinini and Baccini in the varsity room see the contextual nature of the contact and the header so they consider it regular. Our reading is parallel and consequent to what emerges from the topic on the use of arms at an international level».

EXPLANATION – «It is a situation that is difficult to interpret but punishable. The reason is that Mina must have, despite the desire to play the ball, control of her arms as in the case of step on foot. If the movement of the arms occurs carelessly, even though there are the mitigating factors of speed because the situation is unloaded, there is the aggravating circumstance of intensity. The one he puts Mina in the arm that ends up on Alcaraz’s head is excessive. Thus he becomes punishable with a penalty kick, the rationale of the international rule is for the physical safety of the players. Although Mina has every right to play the ball, she must also pay attention to the consequences that she can cause with her arms. Field situation that the referee sees and evaluates in this way. Situation punishable for imprudence with foul and yellow”.