Former Serie A referee Graziano Cesari feels that Inter were unfortunate to have had Sassuolo’s first goal against them stand yesteday evening.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster SportMediaset, the former official gave the view that Nerazzurri midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu had been fouled in the buildup to the goal and wondered why VAR did not intervene to disallow the goal.
The Neroverdi’s approach was clear in the first half as they aimed to seize on loose passes and touches and quickly break forward once they won the ball to create chances.
Domenico Berardi won the ball off of Calhanoglu in midfield to set the Neroverdi away on the attacking move which resulted in the first goal of the game for Giacomo Raspadori, though the Nerazzurri appealed for a foul on the midfielder.
In the view of Cesari, the Sassuolo winger had gone through Calhanoglu to win possession of the ball, and the goal should not have counted.
“Inter’s appeals on the occasion of Raspadori’s goal were very strong,” he said. “Calhanoglu got kicked through from by, it’s clear that the referee must stop the action and award a free kick to the Nerazzurri there.”
“If the referee doesn’t do it then the VAR must intervene to correct the decision,” he continued. “Fourneau had Frattesi in front of him, so he didn’t have a good view of the contact. Where was the VAR?”
He also said of the late disallowed goal from Inter that “VAR was correct, because the ball had struck the arm of Dimarco.”
