Referee Daniele Orsato will not face any discipline for the penalty kick he awarded in Juventus-Roma. He blew the whistle too early since Tammy Abraham hit the net in the prosecution of the action. However, it was a minor mistake at best according to his bosses, Corriere della Sera reports.
The episode raised discussions for a couple more reasons. The linesman had indicated a non-existent offside. Moreover, Henrikh Mkhitaryan appeared to deflect the ball with his hand before the shot by the teammate. Considering the confusion, the decision of Orsato was considered correct. The rules suggest he should not have interrupted the play, but it rarely happens when there are fouls in the box.
Coordinator Gianluca Rocchi believes there was not any mistake on that occasion. In all likelihood, a VAR review would have generated the same outcome. The goal would have most probably been disallowed. Orsato came under fire also because he told Bryan Cristante in the tunnel that there is no “advantage” on PKs and that Roma could not blame him for Jordan Veretout’s miss. That is not the case by the letter of the law. But it is instinctual to stop the game in such instances.
Rather than with the supposed blunder, the heads of the referees are more worried about the increasing protests by coaches and players. Roma did not stoke the fire in the aftermath. They had already pointed out recently that a few meaningful decisions went against them in previous matches as well.