New shock in the refereeing world after another weekend full of controversy in Serie A.Italian Referee Association The decision was made to suspend Daniele Chiffi after his refereeing of Atalanta-Napoli was deemed inadequate by refereeing officials. This measure comes just days after the La Penna case, which involved errors in Inter-Juventus and was initially suspended before a possible reinstatement.
The handling of key incidents in the Gewiss Stadium match was under particular scrutiny. According to the AIA analysis, clear discrepancies emerged between the penalty initially awarded and then revoked to Hojlund in the first half and the goal disallowed to Gutierrez in the second half for an alleged foul on Hien. Aureliano's VAR review corrected the first incident, while the disallowance of Atalanta's 2-0 lead was deemed incorrect. "If the contact on the penalty was slight, the same criteria should have been applied to the build-up to the goal," was the line emerged from the internal evaluation.
The situation was different for Piccinini, who was at the center of discussions for the Milan-Parma match but was deemed exempt from penalties. The contact between Bartesaghi and Troilo and Valenti's harassment of Maignan were not ruled as fouls, confirming the regularity of the goal awarded to the Parma team. This decision recalls similar incidents in the past, such as Pulisic's disallowed goal against Sassuolo, an error the refereeing officer later acknowledged.
The most controversial episodes of Atalanta-Napoli and Milan-Parma will be analysed on Tuesday during Open VAR on DAZN, while the clubs' impatience is growing. Precisely for this reason, a meeting has been scheduled for March 23rd Serie A League between referees, coaches, and captains, with the aim of clarifying decision-making criteria and reducing tension that risks becoming structural.
It seems like a complex and confusing situation, but I don't know if it's just an isolated error or a systematic one; the referees don't seem to agree on the criteria, the V4R often changes its opinion, and this makes fans and teams feel more uncertain. Let's hope for justice, clarification, and more transparency.