Serie A: Referee Chaos from the Start—Controversy Surrounding Inter and Napoli

The 2026–2027 Serie A season has just begun, but the first (and fierce) controversies over refereeing decisions have already erupted. The main targets of criticism are Inter, who defeated Monza 4-1 at San Siro, and Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli, who came away with a 2-0 victory over Genoa.

As for Cristian Chivu’s Nerazzurri, what left many fans perplexed was the goal that broke the deadlock—Hakan Calhanoglu’s strike. When the Turkish midfielder took the shot, Yann Bisseck was in front of Monza goalkeeper Semuel Pizzignacco. Referee Marinelli ruled it all good, and VAR official Gariglio decided not to intervene.

“Inter’s first goal against Monza could spark some debate. On Calhanoglu’s shot, Bisseck is seen trying to avoid contact with the ball. We’ve seen in recent years that goals have been disallowed for offside because the player was in the goalkeeper’s line of sight. But as you can see, Pizzignacco never loses sight of the ball because it passes to the right of Bisseck, so he never obstructs the goalkeeper’s view. “Valid goal,” ruled Luca Marelli, but not everyone was convinced by the former referee’s explanation.

On Saturday evening, Genoa hosted Napoli at Marassi, and this match was also not without controversy. The Rossoblù fans were absolutely not pleased with referee Di Bello’s decision to allow Kevin De Bruyne’s goal: the Belgian collided with Johan Vásquez, but the referee deemed it a legitimate tackle.

Daniele De Rossi had a completely different take: “I think it’s pretty clear this time. Last year we were here discussing a penalty, but that was something completely different. This year, there isn’t a single person in the world who thinks that wasn’t a foul. I’ll leave it at that. I have a very negative view of what happened tonight; it’s one of the worst things I’ve seen since I’ve been in the world of soccer. I’ve been on the receiving end of some of them, and I’ve benefited from some refereeing errors, but I’d better stop here.”

Diego Lopez, Genoa’s Chief of Football, was also furious: “All of Italy saw what happened. This referee was also in charge of VAR last year in the match against Napoli, and we were worried. In soccer, to win you have to score, and up until that point, Napoli hadn’t managed to do so.”