Maurizio Sarri, annoyed that Adrien Rabiot wasn’t shown a red card, criticizes referee Chiffi

Maurizio Sarri doesn’t mince words and makes no secret of his irritation. In his postgame interview with Sky, the Atalanta coach openly criticized referee Chiffi’s performance, focusing in particular on an incident that is sure to spark debate.

Here’s what he said: “Today I discovered that there are players who can tell the referee to go to h… I told the referee that, and he replied, ‘Yes, but I gave him a yellow card.’ Forget it—if I did that, I’d get a red card.” Although he didn’t directly name the player involved, the reference to Rabiot seems unmistakable.

Sarri then concluded with another jab at the refereeing: “I absolutely did not like the way the game was officiated, but for me, with Chiffi at San Siro, it’s always been like this.”

The match, part of the seventh round of Serie A, ended with a 3-2 victory for Milan. Chiffi also played a key role with his VAR decisions: he awarded two penalties to the Rossoneri for two handball infractions—first by Obric and then by Kristensen. The first was converted by Gonçalo Ramos in the 24th minute, while the second, in the 55th minute, was saved by Carnesecchi. An early goal by Pulisic, however, had been disallowed for offside.

On the field, Rabiot played a key role: he scored the goal to make it 2-0 in the 43rd minute—with his weaker foot at the near post—and two minutes after Ramos’s missed penalty, he delivered the cross that led to Gila’s 3-0 goal. Atalanta then pulled within two goals thanks to Gaetano and Krstovic, who made it 3-2 in the 81st minute. Milan moves up to 15 points, while Sarri’s team remains stuck at 9.