Serie A referee designator Gianluca Rocchi has faulted the red card issued to Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu against Inter Milan at the weekend.
Recall that Kalulu was sent off by referee Federico La Penna after Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni tumbled to the ground and immediately gestured toward the referee demanding a card, indicating that Kalulu had grabbed his shirt to bring him down. Television footage suggested there was no contact between the players.
In a chat with Italian news agency ANSA, Bastoni’s fall was a case of simulation and not a foul.
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“We are very sorry about the incident, about La Penna’s decision, which was clearly wrong, and about the fact that VAR could not be used to rectify it,” Rocchi told Italian news agency ANSA.
“La Penna is mortified and we are close to him, but I have to tell you the truth that he is not the only one who made a mistake, because yesterday there was clear simulation.”
Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti and director Giorgio Chiellini later confronted La Penna in the tunnel.
“Something completely unacceptable happened today, it doesn’t matter whether it happens to us or someone else, and from tomorrow presumably VAR will have to change, because this is not acceptable that so many errors keep happening even in big games like this,” Chiellini told Sky Italia.
