AIA president backs VAR decision to call of penalty on Kone: “We are sorry for Claudio Ranieri’s words.” | OneFootball

The president of the Italian Referee Association (AIA), Antonio Zappi, addressed the recent episode in Atalanta-Roma which saw a penalty in Roma’s favor be called off by VAR.

In an interview with ANSA, Zappi declared, “The VAR intervened in full compliance with the protocol, correcting a clear and decisive error,” Zappi said.

“We are sincerely sorry for Claudio Ranieri’s statements regarding the episode of the penalty initially awarded for contact between Pasalic and Koné, then correctly revoked by the VAR.”

Zappi then explained that the referee designator Gianluca Rocchi confirmed the correctness of the technical evaluation, which will also be the subject of the next episode of Open VAR.

“The designator Gianluca Rocchi confirmed to me the correctness of the technical evaluation that will also be illustrated publicly in the next episode of ‘Open VAR’: it was not a penalty kick. Pasalic intervenes, but it is the Roma player who, due to his own dynamics, ends up on top of the opponent.”

The president of AIA then addressed words of respect towards Ranieri, underlining however the importance of responsibility in the statements: “Ranieri is a coach who has always been respected for his correctness, moderation and sporting culture. And it is precisely for this reason that his words have a significant weight. However, in this case, the reconstruction does not correspond to what emerged from the images and the technical evaluation.”