Inter were the first side to suffer at the hands of new protocol introduced on the usage of VAR in Serie A for this season.
The Nerazzurri fell 1-0 away to Sassuolo, whose goal came from the penalty spot, and claims for a penalty were knocked back by referee Maurizio Mariani.
The new protocol places the trust back in the referee and it is up to the referee in the cases that are not a “macroscopic error” whether they wish to trust their initial perception or call upon VAR to have a second look at something. Only when it is a “macroscopic error,” will the referee be alerted and told to have another look.
Had the match between Sassuolo and Inter taken place last season, a real case could be made that not only would Inter have been granted the penalty for the foul on Kwadwo Asamoah but they could well have had another penalty in the first half also.
