Juventus Denied Victory by Late Handball Call in Florence
Juventus walked out of Florence seething, convinced a refereeing decision had stripped them of two precious points and stalled their climb up the Serie A table.
In a wild 2-2 draw at Fiorentina, the Bianconeri twice clawed their way back into the game through Nick Woltemade and Gleison Bremer, only to see a late, glaring handball shout against Joao Mario waved away in stoppage-time. The anger has not cooled since.
A chaotic night, a bitter finish
The match itself swung like a pendulum.
Fiorentina struck first through Mateo Pellegrino, igniting the home crowd and putting Juventus immediately on the back foot. The response was sharp. Woltemade hauled the visitors level, underlining the resilience that has kept them in touch with the European places despite an uneven start to the season.
Alieu Njie then restored Fiorentina’s lead, and again Juventus had to dig. Bremer rose to the occasion, literally and figuratively, powering home to make it 2-2 and tilt the momentum towards the Turin side as the game opened up.
By the closing stages, Juventus were the team pushing. Fiorentina were hanging on.
Then came the flashpoint.
A cross into the box caused chaos. After a series of ricochets — Kolo Muani failing to connect cleanly with a header, the ball glancing off a boot — it struck Joao Mario inside the area. His arm was out, away from his body, at what would later be described as a 90-degree angle.
Juventus players appealed instantly. The referee let play run. No whistle. No trip to the pitchside monitor. VAR stayed silent.
The final whistle followed soon after. The fury followed even faster.
VAR under fire
Across Italy, the debate erupted before the players had even left the pitch.
Leading sports dailies La Gazzetta dello Sport, Tuttosport, and Corriere dello Sport all reached the same conclusion: it should have been a penalty to Juventus. The images were replayed on loop; the arguments around “unexpected deflection” and “natural position” dismantled in studio after studio.
Former referee and DAZN pundit Luca Marelli led the criticism with a cold, forensic reading of the incident.
He highlighted where the ball actually made contact: “below the elbow, more on the arm than in the armpit.” The deflection, he argued, did not absolve the defender. Joao Mario’s arm, Marelli pointed out, was clearly far from his body, extended at that unnatural right angle that modern refereeing guidelines are supposed to punish.
Yes, the move was messy. Yes, the ball’s path changed after Kolo Muani’s missed header and a touch off a boot. But for Marelli, none of that changed the core issue.
“There is no doubt the Fiorentina player touched the ball with his arm, and he should have been punished,” he said, insisting that the label of “unexpected” contact was only one interpretation — and not one that should have closed the case.
For him, the real failure came in the booth. VAR, he argued, had a duty to send the referee to the monitor. Let the on-field official see it again. Let him decide with all the angles in front of him. That never happened.
The sense, from pundits and papers alike, was clear: Juventus had a legitimate claim, and technology had failed them.
Two points that feel like a defeat
On paper, a 2-2 draw away from home, after trailing twice, suggests grit and character. In the table, though, it looks like another missed opportunity.
Juventus sit seventh, with 18 points from 11 games. Respectable, but not where a club of their size and ambition expects to be. Every draw now carries extra weight. Every decision, every marginal call, feels decisive in the chase for the European spots and beyond.
That is why this one stings.
Turn that late incident into a penalty and a likely winner, and the narrative shifts. Instead of lamenting a controversial draw, Juventus would be talking about a statement comeback, a launchpad for a surge up the standings.
Fiorentina, for their part, will not complain. They weathered the storm, survived the late scare, and held on to a point that keeps them 15th on nine points. For a side trying to stabilise in the lower half of the table, this was a hard-earned reward.
For Juventus, it feels entirely different.
Frustration to fuel a climb?
There is no time for the Bianconeri to dwell, even if the sense of injustice will linger. The table does not pause for controversy.
With Juventus still adrift of the top places, the margin for error is shrinking. Draws like this — brave, chaotic, but ultimately incomplete — will not be enough if they are serious about rescuing their domestic campaign and closing in on the league leaders.
The question now is simple: do they let Florence define their frustration, or do they turn that anger into the edge they need to start turning these nights into wins?
