Official: AIA changes the referee for Milan vs. Cagliari – the replacement

AIA, the Italian Referees Association, has announced a late change to the designation for AC Milan’s game against Cagliari tonight. Matteo Marchetti, who was supposed to officiate the game, has been replaced. 

Sergio Conceicao is looking to bag his first win in the league with Milan, following the Supercoppa Italiana win, and Cagliari are up this evening at San Siro. It’s a very important game for the Rossoneri as they need to build on the momentum.

As we wrote in our preview for the game, Matteo Marchetti was assigned to this game by AIA. However, as confirmed by the latter today, the referee has been replaced by Francesco Fourneau. The fourth official Daniele Perenzoni has also been replaced by Daniele Rutella.

No reason was given by the AIA for the replacement, and while fans might immediately think of a conspiracy, it could just be a matter of illness or even logistics. Milan also haven’t lost a game with any of the referees officiating, so there’s nothing to go on there.

In any case, it will be up to Milan to confirm that they can play on a high level consistently. The Supercoppa games were very promising, even if there are a lot of things to improve, and it remains to be seen how far Milan have come with a little more Conceicao time logged.