Inter won against Fiorentina in the last moments, thanks to a penalty converted into a goal by Zielinski right at the end of the match. However, the 2-1 victory of the neroli did not quell the strong suspicions about the interference of Viery on Thuram in the 68th minute of the challenge at the “San Siro”, which caused the anger of the locals.
Inter, who were 1-0 down after Jimenez's goal, develop the action on the right wing. Thuram controls the ball and, as he tries to pass Viery, ends up on the ground. The Frenchman moves the ball, forcing the Fiorentina defender to intervene. Viery does not touch the ball at all, but kicks Thuram's leg, who consequently falls inside the penalty area.
Referee Mariani briefly points to the penalty spot before allowing play to continue, making it clear that there was no foul in his opinion. VAR could have intervened, but he chose to maintain the refereeing criteria established by referee chief Orsato. This criterion provides for a high threshold for assessing contact and as limited as possible interventions by VAR, leaving the main referee with the authority for decisions made on the field, without the use of television footage for suspicious episodes.
However, in this case it was a mistake, and a clear one at that. From the live footage it was immediately clear that Inter deserved a clear penalty. Even the analysis of specialist Luca Marelli in the live broadcast of DAZN went in this direction: Viery's intervention on Marcus Thuram was a foul.
So, the referee should have intervened on the pitch, but at that point, the VAR should have called Mariani to review the episode on the monitor. Apparently, Fabbri did not consider the contact as a clear and obvious mistake, so he did not signal the episode to Mariani.
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— coverage FCIMz_ (@Fcimzzx) October 25, 2026
Contact between Viery and Thuram
The footage shows that Viery seems to have slightly opened his leg to stop Thuram's run, although the latter somewhat exaggerates the fall. The Fiorentina defender was too late in the intervention. The refereeing criteria applied by Orsato, with the high threshold for assessing contacts, perhaps in this case went beyond reasonable limits. The penalty seemed clear and the VAR had the obligation to intervene to signal the episode to referee Mariani and send it to the monitor.
