As the fallout from last night’s game continues, the news has emerged that Codacons have asked for the match between AC Milan and Spezia to be replayed.
Monday night’s game against Spezia at San Siro has been overshadowed by the refereeing controversy that cost Milan all three points, as Marco Serra blew early for a foul on Rebic in injury time with the score at 1-1 a fraction of a second before Messias scored the goal that would have made it 2-1, thus negating an advantage which should have been played.
Codacons (via MilanLive) have now inserted themselves into the controversy and they have officially requested a replay of the match. The well-known association looks after users and consumers and they published a note in which they formally request the Lega Serie A to repeat Milan-Spezia, due to an error that damages all the parties involved.
“Milan-Spezia was conditioned by a very serious technical error of the referee. It is undoubtedly an incident that damages the fans, the bettors and the regular running of the football championship,” it said.
Codacons president Marco Donzelli stated: “We will formally ask the FIGC to replay the match, to protect the regular running of the sporting competition and the fans, who have the right to attend a sporting show free from technical errors.”
Could the game actually be replayed? The regulation speaks of an open eventuality, in the event that the referee admits to a technical error, but what constitutes such an error is vague and replaying the match would set a bold and dangerous precedent.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews), the answer is that the game cannot be played again as it cannot even be referred to as a disallowed goal, given Messias technically scored after the referee’s whistle to blow play dead.
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