Why De Bruyne foul did not result in a penalty during Napoli-Pisa

Napoli star Kevin De Bruyne had fouled Mehdi Leris inside the penalty area, but there was no Pisa spot-kick because VAR showed the referee the entirety of the situation.

See how the match unfolds on the Liveblog.

The officials had been criticised last week during Milan’s win against Bologna when a penalty was revoked following the review of only the latter part of a challenge, leaving out the foul earlier in the move.

They certainly learned from that experience this evening, as referee Valerio Crezzini was called to the VAR monitor during Napoli’s Serie A match against Pisa.

VAR worked on De Bruyne incident

He was first shown the foul, as De Bruyne trod on the boot of Leris right on the line of the penalty area, which is considered part of the box.

This would’ve been a spot-kick for Pisa, as the De Bruyne ‘step on foot’ was a foul.

However, the VAR also lined up the footage of the build-up to that challenge, where Leris stumbled and fell onto the ball with his hand.

“Imbarazzante. Era rigore per noi, fallo di mano?”

Step on foot di #DeBruyne ai danni di Leris in area di rigore. L’arbitro viene richiamato al VAR, ma non assegna il rigore, perché il calciatore del Pisa tocca il pallone con la mano prima del fallo.

Secondo Marelli, il… pic.twitter.com/bCBmKCETod

— calciomercato.it (@calciomercatoit) September 22, 2025

This allowed the referee to evaluate it for himself, as handball is a subjective issue, and Crezzini announced to the stadium that the Leris handball was “punishable.”

Pisa coach Alberto Gilardino was furious, calling it “embarrassing” that the handball was given against them.