Tiago Pinto calls for clarity on officiating after latest incidents

General Manager Tiago Pinto spoke to Sky Sport Italia on Monday evening, to give his thoughts following Sunday's controversial defeat against AC Milan.

The Giallorossi lost 2-1 against Serie A's early league leaders in a game where refereeing decisions dominated the post-match discussion; with a penalty awarded to Milan - following a VAR check - allowing them to take a 2-0 advantage.

Another incident involving Lorenzo Pellegrini in injury time was then seemingly ignored by the officials, as Roma were left to wonder what might have been had a few decisions gone differently.

Here's what Pinto had to say about all those talking points...

After the game on Sunday all the discussion has been about referees, but are controversial incidents enough to justify a defeat like that? Because it’s not the first time it has happened…

“First and foremost I want to say that I don’t like to speak straight after games, because I am always quite tense – especially after very even matches like the one yesterday. I think this topic is one that demands a clear head and today we are all a bit more focused on analysing this sort of thing.

“I also want to say that AC Milan played really well and that perhaps they deserved to win the game, and that everything that I want to say about the officiating is not to hide away from the possible weaknesses of our team. We are professionals and we want to improve; we go through that process internally here every day.

“But we cannot hide from what happened yesterday and what has happened over the course of 11 games so far, because the refereeing decisions are so different, so contradictory at times, that I am not able to work out what to tell the coach and the players about how the games should be officiated, because identical situations are being treated in entirely different ways.”

You mention controversial moments and incidents dealt with in different ways – what moments are you referring to specifically?

“I don’t want to start reciting a long, boring list; in football there are always incidents where the interpretation is very subjective. But there have been at least four or five examples that have been very clear and are worrying.

“We have seen Lorenzo Pellegrini, the Roma captain, miss the derby because of a second yellow card against Udinese, following an incident that we have all seen happen many, many times in Serie A without ever receiving the same punishment.

“In the derby we then should have had a penalty for a foul on Zaniolo in the build-up to the goal that eventually made it 2-0 [to Lazio], where at the time we were told that VAR could not be used, because it can only be used when there is certainty that a mistake has been made. Yet yesterday against Milan it was clear that it wasn’t a penalty on Ibrahimovic – it was not a foul, Ibanez touched the ball – and VAR called the referee over to watch the incident again because the mistake was clear, yet once again the decision went against Roma as the referee stuck with his initial choice.

“In terms of penalties, in the last few minutes of the game there was also one on Pellegrini after contact from Kjaer but perhaps because VAR was ignored for the one on Ibrahimovic beforehand, it decided not to intervene again on that occasion. Yet, if we think back to two weeks again when Inter faced Juventus, VAR intervened in a far less clear-cut moment of contact to give a penalty against Inter that changed the result. We are once again talking about contradictory decision-making that invariably seems to go against Roma.

“Finally, this weekend in Serie A all the referees seemed to play advantage and wait for VAR to provide a clear decision on any dubious incidents afterwards – so this is another area where, unfortunately, the only time a referee has decided not to play advantage in such situations was against us when Tammy Abraham scored in Turin [versus Juventus].

“I do not want to talk too much about individual incidents but I think these four are all very clear, where the decision-making has always been different, yet has seemed to go against Roma every time and cause us damage.”

Do you think Roma showed on Sunday night that they are as good as AC Milan and deserve more than the final scoreline suggests?

“As I have already said, I think Milan played really well – but I also think that in all of our big games so far Roma have played well, have shown we are at the level of Juventus, Napoli and perhaps Milan too.

“To repeat, I do not want to try and hide away from Roma’s weaknesses or the work that we undoubtedly still need to do. I believe that the people here know that the culture of this club does not leave any room for people to hide from what we need to do. And the fans should all rest assured that every day we are all working as hard as we can to improve.

“I believe that we will improve, because Jose Mourinho arrived three or four months ago and this is a process that requires time. I am sure we will improve. But we are all professionals and we cannot ignore two very important things: this is something you guys need to do as well, because I have seen a lot of Sky broadcasts where people with much more credibility than me, people like Fabio Capello and many others, have talked about the standard of refereeing and the decisions made compared to other leagues or in the Champions League.

“Here we have great players, great coaches, a national team that are now champions of Europe … yet none of us understand what the rules seem to be now. And then I cannot ignore the fact that in the 11 games we’ve played so far there seem to have been a number of situations that have clearly gone against Roma. So, as we are all professionals, just as we need to take responsibility here and do what we need to do to improve, it is also the time to say ‘enough’.

“Roma, the staff, players and all the fans, they all deserve respect too. But I want to make it very clear: we do not want to shy away from our own defects and the areas we need to improve. But it is nevertheless the moment for all of us together – because it is ultimately not just a problem for Roma – to properly reflect on the officiating guidelines and what they need to be. Because otherwise we are losing credibility as a league.”