Fiorentina vs. Juventus, a “phantom” penalty: “A defensible call,” says a former referee who officiated 157 Serie A matches

There will be much discussion about what happened at the Franchi Stadium, featuring Joao Mario, a Fiorentina player and former Juventus player: Juventus loudly protested for a penalty kick that could have tipped the scales in their favor, but referee Andrea Colombo did not intervene and was not even called upon to review the play.

Former referee Gianpaolo Calvarese sided with him. “In my opinion, the decision to let the play continue after João Mário’s handball is justifiable. Kolo Muani jumps in front of him, so the ball bouncing between his feet is unexpected. His arm was already high, but stationary,” the Abruzzo native wrote in X.

Referee expert Luca Marelli took a different view, analyzing the incident that occurred in the 79th minute during his post-match segment on DAZN: “A cross from the left and a touch with João Mário’s left arm near his face after another touch by Dragusin: the possible explanation for not awarding the penalty is an unexpected ball, but the arm is too far out to be considered non-punishable.” Former referee coordinator Gianluca Rocchi agreed: “Usually, if the ball arrives after a teammate has touched it, referees tend to let it go, but here it seems to me there was time to react and pull his arm away.”

The match at the Artemio Franchi Stadium, part of Matchday 11, ended in a 2-2 draw. Fiorentina took the lead after just 4 minutes thanks to Mateo Pellegrino, who capitalized on a corner kick by Gonçalves, and Woltemade equalized in the 32nd minute off an assist from Kolo Muani. In the second half, the Viola regained the lead in the 54th minute through Njie, who capitalized on a clumsy play by Bremer, who then scored the equalizing header in the 67th minute to make it 2-2. In the closing minutes, Dragusin scored what would have been the go-ahead goal to make it 3-2, but Colombo ruled it out for a foul on Bremer, while Vicario preserved the draw by denying first Brescianini and then Mastantuono.

After the international break, Juventus will host Venezia on November 22 at lunchtime, while Fiorentina will visit Monza on November 23 at 8:45 p.m.