Referee Gianpaolo Calvarese made the wrong decision to award Juventus a late penalty during their 3-2 win over Inter in the Derby d’Italia yesterday, Italian media claim.
As reported in today’s newspaper edition of Tuttosport, the referee endured a poor evening at the Allianz Stadium and made numerous incorrect decisions, including by awarding Juan Cuadrado a late penalty for an incident with Inter’s Ivan Perisic.
Awarding him a 3.5 in their ratings post match, the newspaper claimed that it was Cuadrado who had actually initiated the contact with Perisic and there should not have been a penalty.
Calvarese and VAR official Massimiliano Irrati were also criticised for poor use of technology, with first half penalties to both teams coming under scrutiny.
The referee was called to the monitor after Matthijs De Ligt trod on Lautaro Martinez, before later returning when Matteo Darmian was adjudged to have dragged back on Giorgio Chiellini. However, Tuttosport claim that neither incident was worthy of being a penalty.
Meanwhile, Martinez saw an acrobatic volley ruled out after Romelu Lukaku was punished for pushing Chiellini in the build up, but replays showed minimal contact and the newspaper argued that it ought to have stood.
Whilst Calvarese was right to send Marcelo Brozovic off for a cynical foul on Cuadrado in the final minutes, his decision to dismiss Rodrigo Bentancur was also criticised as being harsh.