Italian Media Argue Atalanta Goal Vs Inter Milan Could’ve Been Disallowed For A Foul

Gianluca Scamacca’s goal for Atalanta could have been disallowed for a foul in the buildup.

This is the view in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews.

Referee Simone Sozza was always likely to have a tough assignment at the Gewiss Arena yesterday evening.

Matches featuring Atalanta do have a reputation for being somewhat scrappy affairs. This is a result of La Dea’s physically committed man-marking style of play.

Therefore, there are a lot of individual duels and physical challenges in every area of the pitch.

Sozza’s approach yesterday evening seemed to be to “let the teams play” so to speak.

There were a number of rough challenges from both sets of players that did have the look of tackles that many referees would deem to be fouls.

But Sozza seemed to determined not to stop or slow down the match too much. He often waved play on when players appealed, rather than whistling for a foul.

Inter Penalty Correct, Atalanta Goal Could’ve Been Disallowed

In terms of big decisions for Sozza, there were a few. And in the view of the Corriere, the official got them all correct, with one possible big exception.

Firstly, the newspaper argues that Sozza was correct not to hand Atalanta defender Sead Kolasinac a second yellow card.

The Bosnian put in a heavy challenge on Federico Dimarco moments after he had just gone into the book.

Inter players immediately asked for a second yellow for former Arsenal and Schalke defender Kolasinac.

But Sozza waved these appeals away. In the view of the Corriere he was correct to.

And the newspaper also see Sozza as totally correct in awarding Inter a penalty in the first half.

There was no question that Atalanta keeper Juan Musso had brought Matteo Darmian down in the penalty area.

Then, there’s the sending-off of Atalanta captain Rafael Toloi for a second yellow.

Once again, it was a straightforward decision. Toloi had deliberately dragged back Alexis Sanchez who was running towards goal.

But regarding Atalanta’s goal, there were one or two questions.

Inter players immediately appealed to have the goal disallowed. This was because of the coming-together between Dimarco and Ademola Lookman in the buildup.

There was no question that the former Everton and Leicester City forward had used his strength to get past Dimarco, knocking him over in the process. He then played the ball to Scamacca to score.

In the view of the Corriere, that challenge was in a sort of a grey area. It certainly wouldn’t have shocked anyone had Sozza blown his whistle.

But at the same time, it’s not too surprising to see the officials deem it a fair challenge, the newspaper argue.