The Pen finds an ally, Chivu. For him, Kalulu is to blame.

Varying from 2 to 4 are the grades given by the press to Federico La Penna for his performance in Inter-Juventus. Former referees, former footballers, moviolisti, and singing company agree that his mistake, on the occasion of Pierre Kalulu’s sending off, was gigantic. The Roman whistle blower, at the end of the match, while waiting to hear what the referees’ designator, Gianluca Rocchi, will have to say, finally finds an ally: and, certainly not surprisingly, it is the Nerazzurri’s coach, Cristian Chivu, who as a player was a top defender.

“The red to Kalulu – emphasizes the Romanian to Dazn -? For me it is a light touch, however it is a touch: you have to say it and admit it. Touch is touch, even if it is light, and it must be admitted that it is light because it is light. My player feels the hand because he anticipated it: the decision is a second yellow, an experienced player like Kalulu hands in some circumstances must keep them at home”.

“With a yellow already taken I would not have put my hands on an opponent, especially after an advance and with a counterattack – added Simone Inzaghi’s successor on the Beneamata bench -. Bastoni l’I took him off because I was afraid of Conceiçao, if I had known that Spalletti would take him off maybe I would have left Alessandro” on the field.

Aldo Seghedoni

La Penna was put behind the blackboard by all the former referees who wanted to have their say. Among them Graziano Cesari, who has been on Mediaset’s commentary team for years. “He committed a blue-pencil error. The second yellow is nonexistent. There is no contact between Bastoni and Kalulu. There is distance. The Pen has a clear view but takes a glare. This was a genuine blunder. The referee’s mistake saves the Nerazzurri defender from the second caution for non-regulation behavior”. In short, for the Ligurian, the one to be sent to the shower was precisely the Nerazzurri, already cautioned like the Juventino.

These, on the other hand, are the words of DAZN’s moviolista, another former referee, albeit with a less important career than Cesari’s, Luca Marelli. Even the Como man was not tender with the Roman black jacket: “Very serious mistake by La Penna, on which there is nothing more to be done because VAR cannot intervene on second admonitions. There was no contact between Kalulu and Bastoni.”