Monza suffered a 1-0 defeat against AC Milan in a match that could have had a different outcome if not for a disallowed goal by Dany Mota. The striker had found the net following a header assist from Djuric, but referee Feliciani ruled it out for a previous foul by Bondo on Theo Hernandez off the ball.
The decision, which VAR did not intervene on, sparked outrage among Monza players and left their coach, Alessandro Nesta, visibly frustrated. Speaking to Sky Sport after the match, Nesta didn’t hold back:
“I’m angry, but proud of my boys. We’ve had great games against Milan and Atalanta, we could have scored four goals. We scored one, but they disallowed it. Football is being ruined, there’s a crazy rulebook. We need to go back to refereeing like we used to. People don’t like games broken up by a thousand fouls. In Bergamo, the referees apologized to us, but today, what kind of foul is that in midfield? We’re complicating football…”
Nesta continued his criticism of the current state of officiating: “There’s VAR, you can go and review it and then say if it’s a foul or not. Football used to be simpler, even for contact. In the first ten minutes, you understood the standard of judgment, then you adapted. I have too much to do to keep up with all these things. The rules should adapt to football, not the other way around. Today it seems there’s a rulebook to adhere to. The rulebook should adapt to football, not the contrary.”
Regarding the goal conceded, Nesta explained: “We accompanied with too many players, we went with the left center-back, the wing-backs, and the midfielder. Then they counterattacked strongly. They have skills in these spaces, they also had luck, it went precisely to the head. It’s a shame.”
On Daniel Maldini’s performance, Nesta was full of praise: “Daniel is a very strong player, he needs to find mental balance. He needs to understand how strong he is, he needs to realize he can have an important career. God has given him qualities, it’s a responsibility. He must aim for a high level, he’s gone to the national team and must stay there.”
In a separate interview with DAZN, Nesta was even more direct in his analysis of the incident that prevented his Monza team from taking the lead against Milan early in the game: “The rulebook today is crazy! Let’s remove VAR and go back to football as it once was, where there was a bit of physical play sometimes. Theo Hernandez dived: Bondo’s wasn’t a foul! In England, football is beautiful; because it’s also a physical duel…”
