AC Milan: Missing the 'Godfather' Galliani

The 0-1 defeat against Parma last weekend once again made Milan feel unjustly treated by the referee's decisions this season. They attempted to voice their objections publicly, but almost never achieved any results.

Refereeing controversies have become extremely heated in Serie A recently, especially surrounding the red card that the Italian Referees' Association admitted was wrongly given to defender Pierre Kalulu (Juventus) in the match against Inter on February 14, an incident that could be considered a scandal. In that case, Inter's center-back Alessandro Bastoni should have been the one receiving a second yellow card for simulation instead of Kalulu. The referee Federico La Penna's mistake partly reflects the poor professional standards of today's referees, who are overly influenced by VAR technology.

Weekly disputes over refereeing decisions continue. Most recently, both Napoli's President Aurelio De Laurentiis and Coach Antonio Conte spoke out strongly after referee Daniele Chiffi disallowed a goal that would have made it 2-0 for their team against Atalanta, ruling that striker Rasmus Hojlund committed a foul before the assist. The match ended 2-1 in favor of Atalanta. Milan also condemned the decision to allow Parma's winning goal that ended their title hopes at 0-1. Referee Marco Piccinini initially denied the goal but reversed his call after reviewing VAR footage.