Serie A referee Marco Serra dismissed ahead of new season

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’.

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.

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.