Napoli-Inter penalty, AIA criticises Mariani and Bindoni: “All wrong” | OneFootball

The debate over the penalty awarded to Napoli in the match against Inter, an episode that decided the game and sparked a wave of controversy, has not subsided. Twenty-four hours later, the Italian Referees Association also expressed its opinion, and it is not lenient: according to reports from the Gazzetta dello Sport, the performance of Mariani and his assistant Bindoni was considered overall insufficient.

AIA, Mariani and Bindoni criticized: the analysis of the penalty

The contact between Mkhitaryan and Di Lorenzo, which occurred in the 32nd minute of the first half and was sanctioned with a penalty kick, was described as an error "across the board." The referee from Aprilia initially let play continue, allowing Inter to counterattack, but eight seconds later he was called back by the linesman, who convinced him to reverse the decision and award the penalty. According to the refereeing authorities, this decision was made hastily and without a clear perception of the contact. Mariani, who was better positioned than his colleague, relied on the signal without having a direct view of the incident, while the VAR, by protocol, could not intervene as it was not a clear error to overturn. "An unfortunate decision, born from incorrect communication and misplaced trust," is the concise judgment filtering from the refereeing circles.

The dynamics, moreover, bear similarities to other highly debated penalties this season — such as the one in Milan-Fiorentina — and closely resemble a similar episode in Inter-Napoli from the last championship. Now, the public analysis from Open VAR, DAZN's format dedicated to refereeing transparency, is awaited, which should revisit the episode to show the live communications between the referee and assistants.

Andrea Alati

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.