Referee Daniele Doveri has received praise for his handling of yesterday’s Milan derby between Inter and AC Milan in Italian media.
Today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport approved of the official’s key decisions in the match and of his overall approach to the massive head-to-head clash.
Inter were awarded two penalties during the match, and in the view of the Gazzetta both were correct decisions.
There was some debate about the first penalty but the Gazzetta deems Doveri to have gotten it spot-on when he didn’t hesitate to give a penalty for Franck Kessie’s clumsy challenge which saw his left leg take out right right leg of former teammate Hakan Calhanoglu.
The incident will have been checked by VAR as all major episodes are, but it did not intervene to overturn the on-pitch official’s decision, which was correct in the view of the Gazzetta.
On the second penalty there was absolutely no doubt, with Rossoneri left-back clearing out Matteo Darmian who had beaten him for pace into the penalty area.
Ballo-Toure was given a yellow card for the challenge, the game’s only booking, but not a red, and the Gazzetta considers this correct as his tackle constituted an attempt to play the ball albeit a wayward one.
The Rossoneri were denied optimistic penalty shouts for handballs during the second half, but in the view of the Gazzetta there is no controversy here and Doveri was once again in control.
