VAR Controversy Already Flaring Up In Serie A On Opening Weekend: Ex Referee Blasts ‘Blatant Offside’ In Juventus 2-0 Parma Win | OneFootball

There’s already VAR controversy in Serie A, with ex-referee Gianpaolo Calvarese criticizing a “blatant offside” for Juventus in their win over Parma.

Calvarese highlighted the incident right before the corner from which Joanthan David opened the scoring for the Bianconeri in today’s print edition of Tuttosport, via FCInterNews.

VAR and refereeing controversy have been a constant theme in Serie A.

Last season, Inter particularly felt that they were getting the short end of the stick with officiating.

After all the furor, Serie A have made some changes to the system. Now, officials will announce the reason for their VAR decisions on loudspeaker during matches.

The hope is that there won’t be confusion and ambiguity surrounding controversial decisions.

That was already on show, for example, in the disallowing of a Lazio goal against Como due to an offside by striker Taty Castellanos.

The referee clearly explained why he and the VAR team had ruled the goal out.

Already VAR Controversy In Serie A: “Blatant Offside” In Juventus Goal Vs Parma

However, these new changes have not addressed every situation.

The issue remains that not every moment in a match falls within the scope of VAR. Therefore, fouls, offsides, and other controversial incidents can still occur.

Former Serie A referee Gianpaolo Calvarese addresses one such incident in Juventus’s win over Parma yesterday.

“In the play leading up to the corner David scored from there was a fairly blatant offside,” he writes. “And the assistant referee didn’t detect it.”

“VAR couldn’t intervene because it was a different phase of play,” he notes.