The sins of the 'best' referee in the world against Barça

BarcelonaSzymon Marciniak arrived in Milan with the label of the best referee in the world. With this label, Marciniak was expected to be able to tame the match and bring it to his own ground, but The electric Inter-Barça was a wave who ran over him and reduced him to the bare minimum. Dutchmen Dennis Higler and Pol van Boekel, occupants of the VOR Room, had an influence on all the relevant decisions.

The match had a ton of controversial actions and the coin always fell in the home side's favor. Let's review them. In the 26th minute, Barça appealed for a handball by Acerbi after a shot by Dani Olmo, but there was no violation because the ball hit between the defender's shoulder and chest. Late in the first half, Lautaro entered the area and Cubarsí dived to the ground to clear the danger. Live, it seemed like the action was legal, but VAR intervened to confirm that the Girona native never touched the ball and that it hit the striker's right foot. Incomprehensibly, the Barça defender was not booked even though it was a clear scoring opportunity.

There was no respite in the second half, and in the 68th minute, the referee awarded a penalty to Mkhitaryan on Lamine Yamal in a very difficult incident to resolve. The first trip outside the box caused the Barça player to fall, and he received a second contact once he was already inside. If the VAR deems the infraction that sanctioned Marciniak to be outside the box and the rest of the incident is a consequence of the first, they must intervene to convert the penalty into a foul. In the fateful 93rd minute, when the score was tied at 3-3, Barça appealed for a prior foul on Gerard Martín, but Dumfries had the upper hand.

Although most of the controversial incidents were well resolved thanks to the video review, Marciniak's cardinal sin was the lack of protection suffered by the Barça players, especially Lamine Yamal. The Italian team played to the limits of the rules. Relying on the Pole's permissiveness, Dimarco enjoyed free rein until he was substituted, and Bastoni didn't receive a booking until the 118th minute. The disciplinary criteria were neither fair nor recognizable, and the referee was unable to control the match and gain the players' trust. The Pole was so disconnected from the game that he even blew his whistle to end the first half of extra time when Barella was left alone with Szczesny.