Former Serie A referee Luca Marelli believes that Inter captain Samir Handanovic should not have been sent off against Sassuolo and that referee Luca Pairetto made the right decision to refrain from giving him a straight red card.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN in his role as refereeing analyst, the former official gave the view that it was correct to wave play on following the challenge between Handanovic and Sassuolo’s Gregoire Defrel which could have been seen as a foul preventing a goal-scoring opportunity.
Defrel latched onto an underhit backpass by Nerazzurri defender Stefan de Vrij to fund himself one-on-one with Handanovic at the end of the first half.
The Sassuolo forward poked the ball past the keeper before the two collided, with the Neroverdi appealing for a foul and a straight red card to be given.
In the end, referee Pairetto decided to wave play on and VAR did not intervene to advise the referee to review his decision, and Inter kept all eleven men on the pitch following the incident.
Marelli agrees with the decision, stating that “I would say that it was right. There was a very slight contact but Handanovic tried to move completely away in relation to Defrel’s trajectory. In turn, the Sassuolo player tried to skip the Nerazzurri goalkeeper but tried a little too much for contact.”
He went on, “Pairetto whistled the end of the first half. There were no grounds for an off-pitch review. If the foul had been called on the Inter goalkeeper it would have been a straight red for him. Therefore, there would have been extreme for the VAR to intervene, but from my point of view it was right to let it go.”
