Marco Serra has been dismissed from the list of referees for next season’s Serie A and B after a series of scandals involving AS Roma, Jose Mourinho, and AC Milan. While Marco Serra will be turning 41 in September and is still within the age limit of refereeing, he’s been dismissed by the AIA (Italian Referees Association) for ‘justified technical reasons’.
Serie A referee, Marco Serra. Source: Getty This comes after numerous problems, the most dramatic of which include blowing the whistle for a Milan foul rather than giving the advantage, meaning that the Junior Messias goal against Spezia could not be allowed even with the intervention of VAR. To make matters worse, moments later Spezia ran up the other end and scored the winning goal. Serra was in the headlines again last season as a fourth official when he got into a row with Roma coach Mourinho on the touchline during a game with Cremonese. Mourinho was sent off, but furiously insisted he had been insulted by Serra. Although the disciplinary commission did find Serra had been ‘unprofessional’ in his behaviour with Mourinho, he avoided punishment at the time due to the late filing of paperwork, while the coach was handed a two-match touchline ban.
Jose Mourinho confronting Marco Serra. Source: Getty Mourinho had threatened to take legal action against Serra claiming he had said something “unjustifiable”. AS Roma finished the season in sixth place, securing another Europa League berth, while Cremonese finished with five wins, but were unable to climb any higher than 19th in the Serie A table, confirming their relegation for the new season. The recent dismissal is a rare victory for Mourinho, whose antics on the bench last season means he will serve both domestic and European touchline bans after his three red cards in Serie A and his taunting of Anthony Taylor in the Europa League final.
Bundesliga referee Sascha Stegemann has admitted to making an error while officiating a match between Borussia Dortmund and VfL Bochum. Though Borussia Dortmund came into the game seeking to extend its lead on the Bundesliga table, the match ended in a draw as Stegemann refused to award a clear penalty to Dortmund in the 65th minute. Video Assistant Referee, Robert Hartmann also agreed with the on-field decision. 
Acknowledging the error during an interview with WDR 2 on Saturday, April 29, Stegemann said; “I’m extremely annoyed, I feel like sh*t. It was a very, very short night [of sleep], I’m not fine with it. You get up with a bad feeling because you’re angry that you didn’t make the right decision in a scene. 
“Looking at it, it’s a penalty in the situation with Adeyemi for BVB,” he conceded. “I didn’t see it that way on the pitch. As a referee, I have the right to solve the scene on the pitch without using the video assistant unnecessarily.” Should Bayern Munich win its match against Hertha BSC on Sunday, April 30, it would move two points above current first-place Dortmund. 
