Former referee Graziano Cesari has offered his thoughts on the penalty incident during the Coppa Italia match between Lazio and Roma.
In an interview with Mediaset, Cesari is quoted saying: “This is a coded penalty, one that VAR will always give. And in my opinion, it is a penalty, surely it is! We forget that a few days ago, in Inter-Verona, the exact same penalty was awarded.”
Cesari’s comments were in response to the controversial moment in the Couppa Italia, a high-profile tournament in Italian football. His comparison to the penalty decision in the Inter-Verona game is indicative of the regular instances of similar decisions in the sport.
The discussion around these incidents, spurred by Cesari, draws attention to the role and implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in determining game-changing moments in football matches.