“New President of Italian Referees Association Speaks on Lukaku Affair and VAR Use”

As if that wasn’t enough the confusion created by decisions taken and duly proven wrong as the weeks went by (it started with the closure of the Juve curve for the match against Napoli, then cancelled), complete with a speech by the FIGC president Gravina – one of a kind and risky, as it is intended to create a precedent – for removing a yellow card and a one-match disqualification for a footballer guilty of reacting to a racist provocation by opposing fans, the new president of the Italian Referees Association, Carlo Pacifici, also spoke on the Lukaku affair today. And the words of Trentalange’s successor are destined to rekindle the debate and unleash new controversies.

THE RULES APPLY – Interviewed on “Radio Anch’io lo Sport”, su RadioRaiabout the possible consequences of grace granted by Gravina Pacifici replied to the Nerazzurri forward about the behavior of the referees: “Will the attitude towards celebrations as a reaction to racist insults change? “Absolutely not, the decision on the pitch has been made. Then the pardon is the prerogative of the federal president, he implemented it because he probably verified all the conditions. For our part nothing changes, we will continue to make decisions according to the rules in place. Anyone who silences the public after being insulted will be warned, the regulation provides for it“.

Pacifici also spoke about the VAR and its use, which also generated discussions on various episodes over the last weekend: “It is an important tool for us, it gives us the possibility to correct any errors. It is logical that there must be a balance between autonomous intervention by the referee and VAR. The protocol has been updated, the results are positive, but there is room for doing better. Technology has revolutionized football, we cannot underestimate it – argues Pacifici -. campi di provincia doesn’t have the technology to support it and therefore the logic of football is certainly different. We have to try to find uniformity to avoid having two different channels.”