August 19, 2017 was the day Serie A officially entered the VAR era — and fittingly, Juventus were the ones forced to inaugurate it.
The setting was the 2017/18 season opener at the Allianz Stadium against Cagliari. Juve were already up 1–0 thanks to Mario Mandžukić when a seemingly routine, off-the-ball collision happened in the 37th minute. Alex Sandro made late contact with Duje Čop inside the box, but referee Fabio Maresca initially let play carry on.
Then came the moment that changed Italian football
forever. Maresca received a crackle in his earpiece, jogged over to the newly installed pitchside monitor, and after a 97-second delay, trotted back out to point to the penalty spot. It was the first VAR-awarded penalty in Serie A history—a technological milestone meant to eliminate controversy and finally hold the Italian giants accountable in real time.
Except the human element immediately stole the headline right back. Diego Farias stepped up to take the historic spot-kick, only for Gianluigi Buffon to casually palm it away and preserve the lead. Juve went on to cruise to a comfortable 3–0 win with Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuaín getting on the scoresheet, rendering the grand technological debut little more than a footnote in a routine home victory.
It’s a great piece of trivia mostly because of the poetic irony: Italian football rolled out brand-new, cutting-edge technology specifically designed to catch everything, conceded a landmark penalty against Juve, and a 39-year-old Buffon just stepped up and rendered the whole thing completely irrelevant anyway.
