Serie A referees designator believes Juventus were undone v Hellas Verona | OneFootball

Juventus’ exciting start to the 2025-26 Serie A campaign faltered this weekend as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a determined Hellas Verona side at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on Saturday.

Things were looking bright for the Old Lady with Francisco Conceicao’s 19th-minute opener. However, this was cancelled out by a penalty from Gift Orban after Joao Mario was punished for a handball.

Considering this result ultimately saw the Turin side slip from atop Serie A after Napoli beat Pisa 3-2 on Monday evening, the spot-kick’s award has proven particularly contentious – especially given the latest episode of ‘Open VAR’ on Dazn.

Referee designator for the first and second divisions, Gianluca Rocchi, addressed the handball, and suggested that he wouldn’t have given the penalty regarding the player’s movement.

“The decision is incorrect; for us, this isn’t a penalty. And I don’t think it’s correct to bring up another incident (in the audio, Gianluca Aureliano refers to last year’s Atalanta-Udinese incident, Hien’s handball), which is similar but completely different. The dynamics here make the incident not punishable: there’s a distance, I agree, but the player goes to try to head it and the ball slips off his arm, which is also coming back from its movement.”

Orban was also involved in another incident in the game as he elbowed Federico Gatti but was never sent off.

GIFN | Max Bradfield