Serie A: VAR debuts live in Como v Lazio, Castellanos goal ruled out | OneFootball

The 2025-2026 Serie A season marks a historic turning point in refereeing communication: for the first time, during Como-Lazio, the referee publicly explained the decision made after a VAR review at the stadium.

Serie A, live VAR debuts: first time in Como-Lazio, Castellanos' goal disallowed

The incident: Castellanos' goal disallowed

In the 20th minute of the second half, with Lazio having temporarily equalized thanks to Castellanos, the VAR room called referee Gianluca Manganiello to verify the position of the biancoceleste striker. After analyzing the images, the goal was disallowed for offside.

The novelty was the "announcement": Manganiello opened the microphone and communicated the official decision to the entire audience present at the Sinigaglia stadium, stating:

"Following a review, Lazio's number 11 started in an offside position. Final decision: offside).

A revolution for Serie A

This innovation represents one of the main regulatory novelties of the 2025-2026 Serie A. The goal is to increase transparency and make refereeing decisions more understandable to fans and spectators, also considering the frequent controversies that accompany VAR episodes.

Reactions and first impressions

The experiment immediately sparked contrasting reactions: on social media, many fans appreciated the clarity and willingness to involve the public, while others ironicized about the tone and manner of the announcement, defining it as "commander-like".

Regardless of the comments, the introduction of spoken VAR marks a step forward in the direction of a more open and communicative football, in line with what already happens in other international competitions.

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