Former referee Luca Marelli shared his strong views on the controversial incident involving Dusan Vlahovic, questioning the decision to overturn a penalty initially awarded by referee Daniele Doveri after a VAR review.
“A penalty was awarded on the pitch by Doveri and then cancelled. For me, these are situations where VAR should not intervene,” Marelli said. “Both players were holding each other — the first foul was by Pablo Mari, which started outside the box but must be judged by where it ends. Then Vlahovic holds him in return.”
Marelli pointed to the on-field review as the key issue in the episode. “What’s the problem? The on-field review. It was a matter of on-pitch evaluation — perhaps it would have been better not to whistle in the first place, but once the referee did, why did VAR step in? The extent of the contact should be judged by the referee.”
He concluded by emphasising that the review went too far within the VAR framework. “From my point of view, it would have been better not to give the penalty, but once it was awarded, why was there an on-field review? In my opinion, this goes well beyond the protocol.”
