The rule of suspicion hits Daniele Orsato

Italian referee blamed for lack of uniformity of judgment over an incident dating back to October 2021

The World Cup in Qatar opened with the opening match between the hosts and Ecuador, won by the South Americans with a 2-0 victory that did not allow too many replays. Despite the good number of cautions given, the match slipped away quietly, with no refereeing controversy. The whistle for the match, our own Daniele Orsato, was the protagonist of an episode that made Romanist fans discuss it and not a little on social media.

In fact, in the 15th minute of the first half, after passing the opposing goalkeeper, the captain of the ‘Tricolor’ Enner Valencia was landed in the penalty area. Instead of immediately fish the penalty, Orsato waited for the development of the action, and then decreed the maximum penalty only after verifying that Ecuador did not score anyway in the continuation of the offensive action. A perfect application of the rules, but one that has nevertheless prompted recriminations for what happened at Allianz Stadium on Oct. 17, 2021.

On that occasion, during a Juve-Roma match, at the end of the first half Szczesny foully landed Mkhitaryan in the box: Orsato immediately awarded the penalty without waiting for the action to continue, with Abraham depositing the 1-1 ball into the net a few moments later. As chance would have it, the English center forward himself had his shot parried from the penalty spot by the Polish goalkeeper, to the related protests, at halftime, of the Giallorossi’s Cristante. Immortalized by the cameras in the tunnel just before the resumption of play in the second half, Orsato replied to the former Atalanta man that ‘on the penalty the advantage is never given.’ Hence the controversy that Roma fans are putting up on various social channels.