Trying to make sense of the Fiorentina-Juve VAR controversy
The latest such example came during the early stages of Friday night’s highly-anticipated Fiorentina-Juventus matchup. In the 18th minute, Marco Benassi fired a shot off of Giorgio Chiellini’s left arm. Because the legendary Italian defender was in the box, the referee correctly awarded a penalty to the hosts.
However, over the course of four minutes, with Jordan Veretout standing over the spot and Gianluigi Buffon between the pipes, hundreds of thousands of fans at the match and on tv grew ever-more confused as the referee waited to give the go-ahead to the penalty kick. It never came.
Referee Marco Guida eventually gave the VAR signal and raised his arm to indicate offside, and awarded a goal kick. Fans, players, and managers were left confused, and without an explaination.
Upon reviewing the play, the best reason for the decision people could come up with was the touch from Giovanni Simeone prior to Benassi getting the ball. The ball went off Simeone and eventually found its way to Benassi, who was in an offside position…however not before it touched Juventus’ Alex Sandro.
The question became whether Sandro meant to touch the ball or whether he did so by accident. If he meant to touch the ball, the play should have continued, eventually leading to the handball off Chiellini. However, the VAR official determined the Brazilian touched the ball accidentally, which necessitated the play being whistled dead upon Benassi touching it.