Angry Rossoneri! A huge mistake by the referee decided the match and affected the title fight. What did the referees’ association say?

AC Milan unexpectedly lost 1:2 to Spezia in the 22nd round of Serie A on Monday, missing the chance to take the lead in the Italian top flight. However, this result was due to a huge mistake by the head referee, which significantly interfered in the fight for the championship title.

The story of this match is not so simple. It was the main referee, Marco Serra, who had a significant say in the result. In stoppage time, the Rossoneri launched one of their last attacks.

Ante Rebic attempted to shoot from the edge of the sixteen, but as you can see in the video below, he was fouled by a visiting player and the ball went to Junior Messias, who finished with an uncatchable shot into the top left corner.

Usually, if a team manages to finish the action by scoring a goal, the referee will concede the goal. To everyone’s surprise, however, Serra seemed to ignore Messias’ shot, stopped play and awarded the home team a direct kick.

Milan immediately surrounded the referee, who then apologised for his mistake. However, La Gazzetta dello Sport now reports that although the head referee managed to apologise during the game, he still faces a long-term suspension.

The referee’s association representatives also apologised to the Milan side, admitting that Serra had made many more errors in this fixture, including a clear penalty for AC in the first half, which was nevertheless only awarded after a VAR check.

Referees are usually banned for two games for poor performance, but according to the Italian daily, in any case, the number could be significantly higher in his case.

Moreover, at the very end, the visitors had a breakaway which was successfully finished by Emmanuel Gyasi. Spezia thus took full points at the San Siro in a very controversial ending.

For the Rossoneri, however, the referee’s penalty is very little consolation as they could normally have gone top of Serie A. As it is, they still sit second in the league table and are two points behind Inter, with their biggest rival in the title fight having a game in hand.

Sources: GMS, Twitter, Livesport