Malen's red card in Como match continues to spark debate two days later
Donyell Malen's expulsion during Como-Roma remains a subject of intense discussion, with questions focused not only on referee Michael Fabbri's decision but on the consistency of judgement applied across similar incidents the same weekend. La Repubblica analysed the refereeing decisions from the Serie A round following the international break, comparing Malen's red card for his challenge on Kaiki with a yellow card shown to El Azzouzi for a foul on N'Dri in the closing minutes of Lecce-Bologna. Both interventions, the newspaper found, carried characteristics that justified a sending-off, yet referees Fabbri and Luca Pairetto evaluated them differently—a discrepancy that fuels concerns about decision-making coherence. The analysis also examined events preceding Malen's dismissal. La Repubblica highlighted two holding fouls committed by Ramon against Malen before the challenge on Kaiki. Those contacts, the report states, merited sanction from Fabbri, though they form a separate assessment from the Dutch forward's own foul that followed. The broader theme addresses the direction taken by Italian referees under Orsato's guidance. After an opening stretch marked by greater tolerance of contact and a push for flowing play, the campaign's resumption introduced uncertainties the authorities appeared to have resolved, according to the newspaper. The Malen case thus becomes part of a wider discussion: not merely the correctness of individual decisions, but the requirement to apply uniform criteria from one match to another.
