Referee Gianpaolo Calvarese’s officiating during Inter’s 3-2 Serie A defeat to Juventus yesterday ought to be questioned, according to journalist Enrico Mentana.
The referee endured a controversial afternoon at the Allianz Stadium as he awarded Juventus two penalties and a further one to Inter, whilst sending Rodrigo Bentancur and Marcelo Brozovic off.
Calvarese has come under fire for his decision to award a late penalty to Juventus after Juan Cuadrado was adjudged to have been fouled by Ivan Perisic, and Mentana took to social media to voice his complaints about the display.
“I do not discuss the result of Juve vs Inter, but the refereeing cannot be ignored in silence. A match full of blunders and head-to-head decisions, against the interest of football and of each of the two teams,” Mentana claimed in a post on Facebook, and as reported by FCInter1908.it.
“He did not see two penalties and needed VAR to correct him, disallowed a valid goal and again the VAR saved him.
“Then he decided to give a second yellow card on a non-existent foul and whistled a penalty on an equally non-existent foul: these two unfortunate decisions could not have been evaluated by VAR, otherwise they would have both been overturned. Wrong judgment for three penalties out of three, and for one expulsion out of two is a record, I hope unbeatable,” he added.
The defeat saw Inter fall to a first league loss since January, whilst boosting Juventus’ hopes of securing Champions League qualification for next season.
Inter look to return to winning ways when they face Udinese in the final game of the season next weekend.