Referee Gianpaolo Calvarese has come in for criticism from Italian media after his handling of Inter’s 3-2 defeat to Juventus in the Derby d’Italia yesterday.
A controversial match saw both sides given first half penalties, whilst Lautaro Martinez saw a goal disallowed and a Giorgio Chiellini own goal was initially ruled out, before being overturned by VAR.
Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was shown a red card and was followed by Marcelo Brozovic, whilst a late Juan Cuadrado penalty settled the game.
As reported in today’s newspaper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Calvarese was criticised for a performance riddled with mistakes and it is suggested that Inter suffered more.
Juventus’ first penalty was awarded due to Matteo Darmian holding Chiellini off, but the newspaper argued that it was soft and that the Bianconeri defender had also tangled with the Inter wing-back.
Meanwhile, Inter’s penalty for Matthijs De Ligt treading on Martinez’s boot was also considered harsh, but VAR official Massimo Irrati was criticised for not calling Calvarese to the monitor.
Bentancur’s second yellow card was described as being a “non-existent” foul, as was Romelu Lukaku’s challenge on Chiellini that initially saw the own goal disallowed, with the Belgian having little contact on the defender.
However, the most jarring decision came late on as Cuadrado broke into the box and went down after being challenged by Perisic. The newspaper argued that it could have been given as a penalty in real time, but replays showed the Juventus player moving towards Perisic and it ought to have been picked up by VAR.
