Former referee and current referee designator for the AIA, Nicola Rizzoli has admitted he believes that the decision to send Inter manager Luciano Spalletti off for his celebration during Sampdoria vs Inter was harsh.
“Undoubtedly we do not always read situations in the best way. We need to understand what happened, but there can be no red card for just a celebration. We have to see how the game unfolded. The referee was a bit harsh,” he said in an interview with Domenica Sportiva
Spalletti was sent to the stands for the way in which he celebrated Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic’s late winner at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris that gave Inter their second consecutive victory across all competitions. The fourth official deemed his celebration excessive and believed Spalletti done it in his direction although replays later showed Spalletti was in fact doing it at the camera rather than at the official.