VAR Drama As AC Milan Beat Roma At San Siro

By Joshua Walters, Nigel Philips 

AC Milan won 2-1 over AS Roma at the San Siro on a Friday night of high drama dominated by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decisions and an injury time winner.

The hosts dominated the first half and were rewarded with the opener in the 40th minute when Frank Kessie showed up in the six-yard box to connect Rodrigo Rodriguez's in-swinger.

But, the tide changed in favor of the visitors in the second half. Roma dominated the early minutes and pulled parity through Federico Fazio in the 59th minute.

It took Gonzalo Higuain two minutes to plant the ball into the net, only for the referee, Marco Guida, to whistle for a goal but change his mind minutes later after consulting the VAR which ruled that the Argentine was offside in the lead up to the goal.

Roma would have a taste of the VAR in the 82nd minute when Steven Nzonzi made his way through two Milan defenders in a goalmouth melee to flick home on the dive.

Marco Guida, once again, whistled for a goal, but rescinded the decision after the VAR has revealed that the French international handled Javier Pastore’s cross before hitting in.

Undone by the video replays, the two sides attacked each other’s half at the least opportunity, and Gennaro Gattuso's men would have the last laugh five minutes into stoppage time when Higuain provided a perfect through pass for Patrick Cutrone, who showed great determination to get to the ball before a couple of defenders to slot it into the bottom right corner.

The win eases the pressure on the underfire, Gatusso, whose side surrendered a 2-goal first half lead to lose 3-2 at Napoli last week. 

AC Milan were first to test the waters, but Gonzalo Higuain was flagged offside in the 3rd minute even before he could get to Hakan Calhanoglu’s through ball.

Suso saw his left-footed shot blocked in the 9th minute, and Robin Olson pulled a nice save to deny Hakan Calhanoglu from planting the ball in the left bottom corner in the 15th minute.

Milan right-back, Davide Calabria, went through the Roma defense in the 17th minute but blew wide, few second before Olsen denied Gonzalo Higuain of the opening goal by palming the Argentine’s grounder to a corner.

It took Roma 20 minutes to register their first attempt with Steven Nzonzi crossing the ball into the penalty box but seeing it cleared to safety.

Suso’s long-range shot, on the half-hour mark, was tipped to a corner by Olsen, and Higuain could not connect the pass that followed the resultant kick to goal as he blew off target.

Donaruma made a nice save to deny Patrick Schick from finding the net with a header in the 35th minute, five minutes before Frank Kessie broke the deadlock by tapping in Ricardo Rodriguez’s cross following a sweet dummy of Karsdorp Rick by the wing-back at the left side of attack.

Roma made the first substitution in the 46th minute with Stephan El Sharawy replacing Ivan Marcano after Eden Dzeko’s left footed shot had gone wide.

Milan goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donaroma, gave the ball away in the 53rd minute but the visitors could not make him pay as Javier Pastore blew off-target.