While most former footballers tend to harp on about how their modern counterparts couldn't hack it back in their day, Inter Milan coach Pippo Inzaghi appears to have gone the other way.
The former Juventus, AC Milan and Italy forward, known for his predatory penalty-box instincts throughout a glittering playing career, reckons he might have been the one struggling today, as VAR would have robbed him of a few strikes.
"I’m in favour of technology if used for clear mistakes," the 2006 World Cup winner told the May edition of FourFourTwo. "I don’t especially like it as a slow-motion tool, but if it protects referees, who are only human and can make errors, then of course I welcome its implementation.
"Being a linesman is very complicated. In my day, a great number of decisions were on instinct. Against Mexico at the 2002 World Cup, a linesman put his flag up to disallow a goal of mine although I was definitely onside. I guess VAR probably would’ve disallowed some of the goals I scored and given me some that got ruled out."
Inzaghi scored 288 goals during a career which began at Serie B side Piancenza in 1991, and also took in Leffe, Hellas Verona, Parma and Atalanta before his stints with the two biggest sides in Italy. The poacher was famous for his meticulous preparation for games – he would watch hours of footage of himself missing chances in order to work out where he could improve.
While FFT imagines the access to modern coaching and video analysis would have made Pippo even better, he seems to feel VAR might have made the biggest impact on his goal return were he playing today.
