By now, you’ve probably seen the video of Juventus directors Damien Comolli and Giorgio Chiellini along with manager Luciano Spalletti letting referee Federico La Penna know their opinion of the two yellow cards that Pierre Kalulu received in the first half of Saturday’s Derby d’Italia loss to Inter Milan.
Once the final whistle sounded and the field at San Siro was cleared, Comolli and Chiellini decided that it was only right for them, not Spalletti, to take to the post-game microphones and continue to voice their displeasure.
“Something completely unacceptable happened” is how Chiellini described La Penna’s refereeing decisions against Inter. Comolli didn’t stay too far from the message that Chiellini threw out there, saying “It’s embarrassing what happened today” regarding La Penna sending off Kalulu for not one but two very questionable yellow cards, the second of which came in the 42nd minute of 1-1 game after a very clear dive from Inter center back Alessandro Bastoni. Between the two of them, they put up as much of a fight about an on-field controversy that we’ve seen from the Juventus front office in quite some time.
It was, also, completely understandable.
Before doing their media rounds with Sky Italia and others, Chiellini and Comolli addressed the media, and in less than three minutes let their opinions be known about what happened over the course of the loss against Inter. The complete video, which was quickly uploaded to Juventus’ YouTube channel, can be found below.
Here is a transcript of what Chiellini told the assembled members of the Italian press:
“It’s hard to talk about football after what happened today. Something unacceptable has happened again, and you can’t ruin a game of this importance. This is a show that we are putting on for the world, we need to change something immediately, without wasting time, as often happens in Italian football. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been saying that there is no adequate structure for the league. We cannot continue like this. Decisions like the one made tonight cannot be taken lightly.”
And here is a transcript of what Comolli told the assembled members of the Italian press:
“What happened today is embarrassing. It’s something that has been seen all around the world. It cannot happen again, and what happened tonight is just the latest of many things that have happened this season. It’s hard to accept injustices like this one. We can’t talk about football today. The coach and the players are very frustrated after what’s happened tonight. It is totally unacceptable. We lost three points, but Italian football lost much more. This message is, first and foremost, for our fans. At Juventus, we are united in fighting against injustice and we will not give up.”
You don’t throw around words like that unless you experienced something pretty remarkable. And when it comes to the sending off of Kalulu as well as other decisions that La Penna made — or, in some cases, didn’t make — during the loss to Inter, it is certainly valid for both Comolli and Chiellini to be saying the things that they did.
La Penna’s decisions didn’t just cause Juventus to play the entire second half down a man. But his decisions cost Juventus from having much of a chance to beat the league leaders and a team that had looked rather untouchable in Serie A play over the last couple of months. Up until Kalulu’s second yellow card, Juventus and Inter were rather even — and that is something that Alessandro Del Piero emphasized during his post-game analysis on Sky Italia.
But it’s pretty clear that La Penna’s performance in Saturday night’s Derby d’Italia has put even more of a spotlight on what has been another sub-par showing for referees in Serie A this season. And what comes next in terms of the FIGC’s response to everything that happened at San Siro will give us an idea of just how serious they are interested in actually changing what continues to be one of the biggest issues the Italian game currently has.
