The Derby d’Italia fiasco could return to haunt Juventus CEO Damien Comolli, who now risks a lengthy ban for his part in the debacle.
Inter prevailed by three goals to two, thanks to Piotr Zielinski’s 90th-minute winner, but the match was marred by a blatant refereeing howler that reduced the Bianconeri to 10 men following.
Match official Federico La Penna gave Pierre Kalulu a second yellow card for blocking Alessandro Bastoni’s run, even though replays showed that the Juventus defender hardly touched his opponent, who instead took a dive.
Following the scandulous decision, Luciano Spalletti confronted the referee in the tunnel while heading to the locker room at the interval.
The 66-year-old blamed La Penna for ‘ruining’ Juve’s match. However, footage then showed club officials, Comolli and Giorgio Chiellini, reprimanding the referee as well.
(Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images)
According to several sources in the Italian media, including La Gazzetta dello Sport and Tuttosport, the two Juventus directors risk receiving sporting bans.
“You can’t do something like this, it doesn’t exist anywhere in the world,” an angry Chiellini was spotted saying to the referee.
On the other hand, Comolli labelled the episode as a ‘f***ing disgrace’.
The reports explain that the FIGC inspectors were close to the action, so it remains to be seen if they had reported the incident to the prosecutor, who would then open an investigation and request a ban.
Since he refrained from using foul language, Chiellini only risks a ‘soft’ punishment. On the other hand, Comolli’s ban could reach two months if convicted.
While the two men would still be able to work at the club’s headquarters as normal, they wouldn’t have access to the bench, tunnel, dressing rooms, or pitch areas on matchdays, and would be prevented from attending league meetings and assemblies, as well as other sporting activities.
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