Ex-Serie A Referee Luca Marelli: “Not Much Contact Before Inter’s Equalizer Against Venezia”

Former Serie A referee Luca Marelli feels that there was little reason for VAR to consider disallowing Inter’s equalizer against Venezia.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after the match, Marelli emphasized that there was very little in the contact between Edin Dzeko and Venezia defender Marco Modolo in the leadup to Nicolo Barella’s equalizing goal during the first half.

Barella found the back of the net after a fine team move down the right-hand side to get the team back in the game after the visitors had gone ahead, though Venezia’s players immediately appealed for the goal to be ruled out.

In the view of the Venezia players Dzeko had fouled Modolo while the pair had challenged for am aerial ball, and this was reason to chalk the goal off.

There was a VAR review lasting a couple minutes in which the officials seriously considered the incident but in the end decided to let the goal stand.

Marelli feels that this was the correct decision, stating that “There was a long check by the VAR to decide on the incident. After the check, it was decided that it is a contact that was already evaluated by the referee.”

“There was minimal contact between Dzeko and Modolo,” he went on, “but not enough to overturn the decision on the pitch.”