Napoli striker Marcelo Zalayeta has become one of the few players to be condemned by video evidence and later cleared by … new video evidence.

The affair has given a new twist to the debate about the usefulness of technology, especially in a country still wary of referees following the famous match-fixing scandal involving officials.

Zalayeta fell over Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to win a penalty in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Juventus. Immediate television replays showed no contact between Buffon and his former Juve team mate, incensing Juventus fans and leading to a two-game ban for the Uruguayan for diving.

However, footage from a different camera angle came to a light a day later showing Juve defender Nicola Legrottaglie had clipped Zalayeta as he approached Buffon and Napoli successfully argued at an appeal that this had contributed to Zalayeta’s fall.

So where does all this leave video evidence? Is it as reliable as advocates suggest? If immediate replays were brought into soccer like in other sports,  then on this occasion the video ref would have been wrong if he had only seen the main footage.

This all follows from the disputed England try in the Rugby World Cup final defeat by South Africa. The video referee had about 20 looks at the pictures before disallowing the try, a decision which England fans still believe was incorrect.

They say video killed the radio star. Let’s hope it doesn’t kill football as well.