27 February 2022
27 February 2022

Pierpaolo Marino looks back at Milan controversy

Udinese Technical Director speaks to Udinese TV about the uproar caused in the wake of Friday's draw at San Siro

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Udinese Technical Director Pierpaolo Marino has spoken to Udinese TV about Destiny Udogie’s controversial equaliser against Milan last Friday. Appearing via phone on L’Altra Domenica, Sunday evening’s weekly show on Udinese TV, this is what Marino had to say about the incident. 
 
“Friday’s match was referee [Matteo] Marchetti’s third game officiating at the San Siro, two with Inter and one with Milan. Overall, he’s taken charge of eight Serie A matches, including Udinese v Verona and the very controversial penalty awarded following the [Rodrigo] Becao tackle on [Antonin] Barak in the 85th minute.
 
“I believe that in this instance, the controversy is more a case of following up on the previous refereeing mistakes that went against Milan, resulting in the press branding this incident as a VAR mistake when it simply was the correct decision. The referee immediately awarded the goal and VAR was unable to provide the necessary evidence to overturn that initial decision. The handball was always in doubt. You cannot allow goals to be disallowed by VAR based on assumptions, feelings and doubts. This would set an extraordinary precedent and lead to the demise of football. 
 
“From Udinese’s point of view, we regret having to get involved in this story. We always accept when mistakes that go against us are made. However, in this case we must speak up to defend and praise a wonderful performance put in by our team against Milan. The draw was deserved and honestly a fair result. 
 
“We could also make our own controversy claims, that Milan’s only shot on target was Rafael Leao’s goal which came after he had fouled Becao. There are a lot of decisions that we could be unhappy with. 
 
“We are disappointed to have to put up, with this media criticism, albeit indirectly. Udinese have suffered many refereeing mistakes this season, a lot more than decisions that have gone in our favour.”