The top two in Serie A have ensured that this has been one of the most exciting campaigns we have had the pleasure of watching since Inter and Roma’s nail-biting title race of two years ago.
Milan and Juventus have both been excellent this season and the Rossoneri have been a credit to the peninsula in their European performances while the Bianconeri will have Europe worried ahead of their return to the Champions League next season due to the formidable form they have shown this season.
Yet while it has been a joy to watch players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Arturo Vidal for their respective sides and also assess the decisions and tactics of the two men in the dugout who are still somewhat finding their feet (despite Max Allegri’s title win last season), the endless debates over controversial decisions involving the two sides has somewhat marred what has been otherwise a sensational season to watch.
In the wake of Milan’s draw with Catania this weekend in which Robinho’s goal-bound effort was cleared by Giovanni Marchese (it is still unclear whether or not this was a goal even after repeated viewings despite Milan releasing doctored images of the incident), Adriano Galliani has sent a letter to the FIGC requesting the use of extra officials behind the goals to prevent this kind of injustice against his side occurring again.
If it still so hard to tell after such repeated viewings whether or not the whole of the ball had cross the line before Marchese’s timely intervention, then what chance do the referees and linesmen have of making the call on a split-second decision and, as is often said, if the officials are in any way in doubt then they simply cannot give the goal therefore making it seem like it was the right decision.
What Galliani fails to mention in his letter though is that despite the debate over Robinho’s ‘goal’, Catania themselves were the victims of an incorrect call when Alejandro Gomez had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside but there have been few cries of outrage from the Sicilian side.
Juventus have also been vented their frustration at officials this season over tight calls in games and although the decision to rule out Mirko Vucinic’s perfectly legal goal in their weekend win over Napoli did not come back to haunt them, there was recently a great deal of anger in Turin over decisions that went against them in their 0-0 draw with Genoa.
For a game without goals, it was not without incident with perhaps the most controversial decision of all being the decision not to award Juventus a penalty when Juventus’ Alessandro Matri went down in the penalty area after colliding with Genoa defender Roger Carvalho off the ball and although the penalty could easily have been given as the defender did seem to have a hold of Matri’s shirt, the striker did also look to have a hold of the Brazilian too.
Simone Pepe was also booked for protesting against a handball in the Genoa penalty area when the spot kick was not awarded but video footage clearly shows that there was no intent from Emiliano Moretti to raise his arm to block the ball.
In fact, like Catania against Milan, late in the game it was Genoa who could also stake a claim for being reasonably hard done by after Marco Rossi went down in the area over Andrea Pirlo’s outstretched leg although contact appeared to be minimal if any, there have been occasions when this decision (and the Matri one) have gone in favour of the attacker so Juventus could also count themselves slightly lucky.
All of these incidents can be found in this video:
Perhaps the biggest decisions of all which has brought about so much ire from both sets of supporters came in the same game and it is a game which likely needs no introduction. It, of course, was the Serie A showdown between the top two sides at San Siro towards the end of February when referee Paolo Tagliavento and his assistants endured one of the toughest games of their career.
Of course the events of that night in Milan are now well known when, after Antonio Nocerino had given the Diavolo an early lead, Sulley Muntari took centre stage and his ‘goal that never was’ could now become his defining moment in a Milan jersey.
When Gigi Buffon parried Philippe Mexes header into the path of Muntari, the attacker reacted quickest to head the ball towards goal and although pictures have since shown that his header was at least two yards over the line, Buffon’s dive to pluck the ball back out and away allowed Juventus to escape going 2-0 down and perhaps finding it even tougher to come back.
The linesman is clearly in the perfect position to judge and although he missed out on the goal, it is foolish and entirely without basis to claim that this is down to any sort of conspiracy that exists this season.
This is the second decision that Galliani talked about in his letter to the FIGC president this week citing it as one that could cost his team important points in the race for the Scudetto but his calls for extra officials are unlikely too be implemented any time soon, if ever.
The Milan supremo should also know better than anyone that even with the inclusion of officials behind the goal, this does not always mean that mistakes will suddenly be a thing of the past. In the first leg of their Champions League tie against Barcelona, with an official behind the goal, the Spaniards were somehow not awarded a penalty when Christian Abbiati looked to bring down Alexis Sanchez in the area (although the Chilean was never going to reach the ball after he touched it past the goalkeeper).
So more officials does not necessarily mean mistakes will be eradicated and goal line technology also seems to be even more unlikely to be brought into the Italian game and if so, it would not be for the next four years at least and it is something that can be debated endlessly without the outcome seeming any clearer.
There are obvious advantages and disadvantages of this system much too long to list here but I would say the one that we must realise (and it is something that has been discussed at great length on many of this website’s podcasts) is that the officials do their absolute best to make the correct decision in a certain situation and if they are even slightly unsure that they are making the correct call, then they cannot give it.
Part of the excitement of the game too is that mistakes are made although this is something that was of little comfort to Milan in the wake of Muntari’s ‘goal’ and was also something that would have done little to ease the anguish that Juventus themselves felt later in that same game.
As the picture clearly shows, when Matri latched on to the pass late in the game, he is clearly offside despite Vucinic standing in very much an offside position and the Italian international’s crisp finish mattered little as he was unfairly ruled offside.
This decision is as much of an embarassing one that could have serious ramifications and although both Juventus and Milan can rightly feel aggrieved with the respective decisions that went against them in this game it is perhaps time to move on from the arguments over match (and others such as Milan v Catania and Genoa v Juventus) because there is so much left to play for this season that it would be a sad situation if we were to always be caught up in the ‘what if’ debates regarding this game and this campaign.
The fact is that there are eight games left to play and only two points seperate these sides and whatever decisions have went against them or otherwise this season, this is not the time to reflect on them but is the time to focus on the remaining fixtures and a very exciting title race.
Although this is calcio and this is easier said than done with fans still often found to be debating Juventus’ controversial last gasp triumph over Fiorentina in the 1981/82 season or across the city they still hurt over decisions as far back as 1927 when Torino’s title was revoked due to the Allemandi scandal.
Italian football may never forgive and certainly does not forget, but Milan and Juventus are still playing very well at the moment regardless and it is still very much anyone’s Scudetto so it would perhaps benefit fans of both clubs to forget about these decisions and enjoy the season because it benefits nobody to be stuck in the past.
Follow Padraig Whelan on Twitter @PWhelan88 and be sure to check out Football and Fighting
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