One of the biggest mistakes since the introduction of VAR? Juventus saved from defeat, Bologna are furious. Even the coach of the Turin club was not satisfied with the referees

Bologna are not having an easy time at the start of the new Serie A season. In the first round they challenged AC Milan, in the second round Juventus. The Bianconeri could have scored their first win, but due to refereeing errors it didn’t happen.

On Sunday, Serie A offered an interesting duel between Juventus and Bologna. The Turin team managed to win their first round match on the ground of Udinese and won 3:0, while Bologna lost at home by two goals to AC Milan.

Juventus was the favourite in the match, also because of their better squad and home environment, but in the 24th minute their hopes of getting three points were dashed when Lewis Ferguson sent Bologna into the lead.

However, Juventus at least managed to draw level at 1-1 when Dusan Vlahovic scored in the 80th minute. But the equalizer may not have happened at all.

It was the 71st minute when Bologna had a great chance. Dan Ndoye had a chance to head the ball into the empty net, but was brought down by Samuel Iling Junior and prevented from finishing. A clear foul? Not according to the referee. And VAR didn’t intervene either.

The whole situation was, of course, much debated. Coach Thiago Motta was furious that his team didn’t get the opportunity to kick the penalty.

Analysing the situation for DAZN, former referee Luca Marelli said that not only should Bologna have kicked the penalty, but the Juventus player should have seen a red card as he had thwarted a clear goal scoring opportunity.

“It’s a huge mistake. I don’t remember many similar incidents in the past. It‘s one of the three biggest mistakes made in the VAR era,” Football-Italia quoted Marelli as saying.

Bologna could have led 2-0 and won their first game of the season, but instead they have just one point after two rounds. No wonder the club’s management is furious and openly talking about the referee depriving Bologna of a win.

But even Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was not to be satisfied with the performance of the referees, according to Italian media. He didn’t even show up for the post-match interview, replaced by his assistant Marco Landucci, who said only that Juventus accepted the referees’ decision.

Source: Serie A, YouTube, Football-Italia