Italian Media Deem Tackle By Juventus Defender On Inter Milan Striker “Never A Penalty”

The tackle by Juventus defender Bremer on Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram was “never a penalty.”

This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who argue that Fabio Maresca got all the refereeing incidents spot-on.

Discussions of refereeing held a prominent place in the discussions in the build-up to yesterday’s Derby d’Italia.

Perhaps that is inevitable in matches between Inter and Juventus. That particular fixture has never been too far away from refereeing controversy.

And the last few weeks have seen Serie A officiating come under a microscope.

In particular, Inter’s late winner against Hellas Verona last month – coming after what looked like a foul by defender Alessandro Bastoni – caused a firestorm.

There were all sorts of conspiracy theories and accusations of favouritism towards the Nerazzurri.

So the question of who would referee yesterday’s match was always a big one.

In the end it fell to Maresca. And in the view of the Gazzetta, despite all the hype and controversy, he did an excellent job.

Bremer Tackle On Thuram “Never A Penalty” – Maresca Praised For Performance

A lot of Maresca’s job yesterday was keeping a lid on the players’ emotions in such a big match, whilst also making sure that play could flow relatively smoothly.

The referee accomplished both of those tasks in the view of the Gazzetta.

The newspaper argue that an early booking for dissent to Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic was harsh.

But it accomplished what it meant to, as Maresca laid down the law and drew a line as far as which sorts of challenges to his authority wouldn’t be tolerated.

Then, there was Inter’s goal.

Given the scrappy nature of the goal – a Federico Gatti own-goal – there was always the possibility of an infringement in the buildup.

But Maresca and his VAR team handled the goal well. They conducted a brisk check of the goal to ensure that there were no fouls, then awarded it without drama.

Meanwhile, Maresca was not afraid to allow the players to get physical with one another – within limits.

Nowhere was this more evident than in a late incident in the Juventus penalty area.

Inter striker Thuram burst into the box, with only defender Bremer to beat.

The Brazilian stood his ground, knocking over the Inter striker. Thuram wanted a penalty, but Maresca had no interest in blowing his whistle.

The referee saw it as a fair shoulder-to-shoulder challenge in which the towering Bianconeri defender was simply the stronger of the two players.

And in the view of the Gazzetta, this was exactly right.