Ederson has a bitter smile as he reviews the footage of the penalty that was not given to Atalanta for Kalulu's challenge on Rowe. A clear action, which was however not punished by either the referee or the VAR. The Dea captain, who appeared surprised by the decision of referee Zufferli on the pitch, has shown that he is unable to leave behind a situation that could have given Sarri's team the opportunity to equalize and, consequently, change the fate of the match.
The Brazilian midfielder has no doubts and has spoken out as a captain, especially about such an obvious intervention as that of the French defender: "As I saw during the match and even now, reviewing it, in my opinion it was a penalty, because you can't hold a player's shirt like that for two meters and the referee doesn't give a penalty. Then what drives me the most is that we have VAR". For Ederson, you can't face two mistakes: the first by the referee on the field and the second by VAR, which did not correct what happened on the field: "So, there were two mistakes in a row and this, in my opinion, we can no longer accept."
Come fa sta roba a non essere rigore? Va solo a cercare l' uomo impedendogli di andare in porta, senza senso. pic.twitter.com/65d5Xm3lsO
— Don Friedkin (@DonFriedk_IN) September 20, 2026
The new course of refereeing and the desire of the designer Orsato not to punish "small penalties" or to not turn to VAR for easy contacts are already known. In this case, however, there are still many doubts, since the withdrawal was really very obvious. And this is precisely what angers Ederson and Atalanta: "It's okay that the referee can make mistakes, but now with VAR there is even more certainty. I'm not saying that this was the moment that decided the match, because then we conceded two goals. But it's a penalty: there, if it draws 1-1, it's another match. This, in my opinion, we should all ask for, both us a little more, as well as the players and the referee: to try to do something better. Because I accept that even the referee can make mistakes for a foul, a half-foul, but a penalty, when there is VAR, in my opinion we can't make mistakes like this anymore."
A balance will need to be found between the need for a more fluid game and not using the whistle for trivial situations, as well as the need to intervene to at least evaluate more obvious episodes with VAR.
