Referees confirm Atalanta 1-0 Roma had ‘correct decisions’ on controversial goals

Both Atalanta and Roma were furious with the refereeing after their match, but the official verdict has been now handed down on those controversial decisions by Andrea De Marco.

The 1-0 win in Bergamo over the weekend sparked anger from both sides, as Gianluca Scamacca had a goal disallowed for an offside in the build-up, while there were complaints about Giorgio Scalvini’s headed winner.

With so much discussion about how the decisions were made and if they were accurate, there was a great deal of interest in the voice of the AIA (Italian Referees Association).

Atalanta and Roma both angry at referees

Former international referee De Marco spoke on DAZN Italia programme Open VAR about these specific incidents.

“We must congratulate the VAR Maresca and his AVAR Di Paolo,” insisted De Marco.

“There were two aspects to evaluate with the Scalvini goal, the first is if he had handled the ball, and the video shows no evidence of this.

“Then there is the issue of contact with the goalkeeper. The Atalanta player gets the ball first, then in the process of the movement, the goalkeeper is off balance and bumps into him. Because of all this, the decision to allow the goal was the correct one.”

As for the Scamacca goal, it was argued by many including Sky Sport Italia pundits that the first touch was poor from the Roma player, so his offside earlier in the move should be irrelevant.

Il contatto tra Scalvini e Svilar in #AtalantaRoma
C'è tocco col braccio?

L'audio del VAR e la spiegazione di De Marco ad #OpenVAR, disponibile ora su #DAZN pic.twitter.com/gq2VPuCAKb

— DAZN Italia (@DAZN_IT) January 5, 2026

However, this too was backed as the correct decision by De Marco and the AIA officials.

“Scamacca is clearly offside when he intervenes to challenge for the ball with the defender, so the decision to disallow the goal is correct.”