Rocchi on Malinovskyi’s missed red card: I asked for strictness on field and monitor

In a recent episode of Open Var on Dazn, Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi expressed his thoughts on the non-red card incident involving Malinovskyi’s severe foul against Yildiz.

Rocchi opined, “This was a missed red card on the pitch, even though Massa didn’t understand the seriousness because of VAR. So it was a decision that should have been taken at the monitor.”

The experienced referee further suggested a stricter approach to such harsh tackles, emphasising the need to protect players, particularly in the high-stakes environment of the current league season.

Rocchi stated, “I have asked for severity on the pitch and then at the monitor on these types of interventions. We need to protect the players especially in this phase of the championship where points, results and health are significant.”

In such tense matches, he remarked on the need for officials to maintain strict and stringent rules. Rocchi’s comments were quoted on Juve News 24.

However, Rocchi’s comments didn’t dwell on whether there would be retrospective action taken against Malinovskyi or not.