The foul by the Bologna defender on the newly-substituted AC Milan forward was evident. Referee Marcenaro received a poor rating of four.
The match between Milan and Bologna was marked by several controversial refereeing decisions. Early in the game, Rabiot protested after a challenge with Zortea; referee Marcenaro awarded an attacking foul against the Frenchman for mutual holding. In the 14th minute, a goal by Cambiaghi was disallowed for offside. Seven minutes into the second half, Gimenez appealed for a foul in the box by Lykogiannis, but it was deemed only a minimal contact.
The most critical incident occurred in the 40th minute: the referee initially awarded a penalty for a foul by Freuler on Nkunku. However, after being called to the VAR monitor by Fabbri, he controversially overturned his decision. Crucially, the VAR review failed to consider a preceding and clear push by Lucumi (including a low contact) on the same French player, which should have resulted in both a penalty and a red card. This series of errors led to a severely negative assessment for the referee, who was given a rating of 4.
