What referee Massa really did on Genoa vs. Napoli penalty after 15 seconds | OneFootball

There was confusion around precisely what happened when Genoa earned a penalty with a foul in the opening 15 seconds of their Serie A match against Napoli, the role of referee Davide Massa and VAR.

You can follow all the action as it happens from the Week 24 fixture at Marassi on the Liveblog.

When Alessandro Buongiorno hacked at a long ball and allowed Vitinha to run into the box, going down under the Alex Meret challenge, it looked at first as if the referee had immediately awarded the penalty.

Moments later, he was called to the touchline by VAR for the On-Field Review, announcing via the microphone that he had given a penalty with yellow card for Meret, seemingly sticking with his original decision despite Vitinha dragging his leg a little bit to seek contact.

It was then converted by Ruslan Malinovskyi to give Genoa the lead.

Massa point caused confusion on early penalty

CREMONA, ITALY – DECEMBER 28: Coach Antonio Conte of SSC Napoli reacts during the Serie A match between US Cremonese and SSC Napoli at Stadio Giovanni Zini on December 28, 2025 in Cremona, Italy. (Photo by Marco M. Mantovani/Getty Images)

However, DAZN Italia analysed the footage and explained that this was not the real course of events at all.

When referee Davide Massa pointed in the general direction of the penalty spot, he was in fact pointing to award a goal kick.

Therefore when VAR called him over, it was not to suggest Vitinha had dragged his foot, but to show the Meret contact was worthy of a penalty.

It was so early into the game that Napoli coach Antonio Conte wasn’t even looking and wasn’t sure what had happened either.