Genoa's Fury After De Bruyne's Controversial Goal in VAR Storm

Napoli walked out of Marassi with a 2-0 win and three points. Genoa walked out seething.

The flashpoint came with the game still goalless, the tension already thick in the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. A loose ball dropped in the Genoa box, Johan Vasquez stepped across Kevin De Bruyne to shield it, and then everything exploded.

Vasquez went down under a nudge from behind. De Bruyne did not wait for a whistle that never came. Seven yards out, unbothered, he drilled the ball home.

Referee Marco Di Bello had been right there. He lifted the whistle to his lips, then stopped as the ball hit the net. The decision was left to stand on the pitch and, after a VAR check, stayed that way. No On-Field Review. No second look.

Napoli were 1-0 up. Marassi erupted – not in celebration, but in fury.

The pressure on Genoa only grew. De Bruyne, now dictating, then slipped in Antonio Vergara, who finished for 2-0 and killed the contest. On the opening weekend of Serie A, the champions were clinical. The controversy, though, belonged to the hosts.

Lopez unloads on Di Bello and VAR history

Genoa’s Chief of Football Diego Lopez did not bother to hide his anger.

"All of Italy saw what happened today," he told Sky Sport Italia and DAZN Italia, pointing straight at the incident with Vasquez and the man in charge.

For Genoa, this was not an isolated grievance. It felt like a pattern.

"This referee was also in the VAR booth last season in the game against Napoli, so naturally when we heard he had been assigned to this match, we were worried," Lopez said.

"Last season it was 2-2 until the last minute and Napoli were awarded a penalty. He was also in Roma-Genoa, where our goalkeeper was hit in the face during a goal. Both times, the referees later acknowledged these were errors in Open VAR."

Open VAR, the DAZN programme where officials publicly review and explain recent Serie A decisions, has already twice confirmed mistakes in matches involving Genoa and Di Bello’s involvement. That history hung over Marassi before kick-off. The De Bruyne goal turned it into open confrontation.

"Fortunately, there are cameras, so all of Italy saw that there was a clear push on Vasquez to create the opportunity for Napoli to score," Lopez continued.

"The referee saw it and decided not to blow his whistle, then the referee decided not to view it again.

"We tried to calm the players, because they knew Genoa had already suffered two recognised errors at the hands of this referee. We know that officials are human and can make mistakes, but all of Italy saw what happened today."

VAR philosophy under fire on opening day

Serie A’s refereeing leadership had gone into the new season with a clear message: VAR would step in only for "clear and obvious" errors. No re-refereeing of grey areas. No constant trips to the monitor.

On day one, that philosophy was already under siege.

The De Bruyne–Vasquez collision was checked by VAR, but the officials in the booth did not deem Di Bello’s on-field decision to be a clear and obvious mistake. No recommendation for an On-Field Review followed, so the goal stood.

Across Italian television studios the debate raged. One camp saw a foul by De Bruyne, a push that toppled a defender who had position on the ball. The other saw Vasquez trying to buy a free-kick, shielding rather than playing the ball and inviting contact he could not then handle.

The law, in the end, was applied by a single man on the pitch, backed by colleagues who chose not to intervene. The incident, the anger, and the accusations will linger far longer than Napoli’s three points.

On the very first weekend, Serie A already finds itself asking: where exactly does "clear and obvious" begin – and how much controversy is the league willing to live with to defend it?