Nesta: ‘Referees are ruining football, it used to be a contact sport’

Alessandro Nesta was furious after Monza had another goal controversially disallowed in the 1-0 defeat to Milan. ‘Refereeing must adapt to the sport, not the other way around. They are ruining football.’

His team dominated the first half at the U-Power Stadium, wasting numerous scoring opportunities, and did have the ball in the net early on with a Dany Mota Carvalho half-volley.

However, the referee disallowed it for an earlier Warren Bondo push on Theo Hernandez in the build-up, a decision that caused confusion as well as controversy.

“We feel angry, but also proud of these lads. We had two great performances against Atalanta and Milan, we could’ve scored four goals in the first half, we did score one and it was disallowed,” Nesta told Sky Sport Italia.

“They are ruining football in my view, we need to go back to the old style of officiating. What kind of a foul is that? The referees sent an apology to Monza after the one against Atalanta, but apologies won’t stop us losing points.”

Nesta rages at modern refereeing

The official initially let play continue, then blew the whistle for that foul without waiting for the VAR call, so he should’ve stopped it as soon as he saw the infringement or taken no action unless there was a response from the Video Assistant Referee.

“They are over-complicating football and all of this makes no sense,” continued Nesta.

“Football used to be simpler, it used to be a contact sport, now every tiny touch is penalised, a toenail is offside, you have to go into a challenge with your hands clamped behind your back or it might be a penalty.

“I believe that the refereeing must adapt to the sport, not the other way around. The rules must be adapted to the sport, not the opposite.”

Monza had several other opportunities to take the lead in the first half, including a big miss from Daniel Maldini.

“Daniel is a very talented player who in my view needs to find the right mental balance, to understand just how good he is. He was given a talent by God that few others possess, so he needs to keep raising the bar and making the most of that,” concluded Nesta.

“He’s already improved, but I think he can do a lot better still.”