Gianluca Rocchi, head of the Italian referees’ committee, admitted that referee La Penna made a serious error against Juventus that significantly impacted the course of Saturday’s Derby d’Italia match against Inter.
La Penna issued a second yellow card to Juventus defender Piero Kalulu in the first half, despite replays showing that the Juventus star did not foul Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni. He also refused to consult VAR to confirm the decision.
This sending-off severely affected Juventus, who finished the match with ten men and ultimately lost 3-2.
“We are very sorry, both for La Penna’s completely wrong decision and for not being able to use VAR to correct the situation,” Rocchi told the Italian news agency ANSA.
He added, “La Penna is bitter, and we support him, but the truth is he wasn’t the only one who made a mistake. Yesterday, there was a clear case of simulation to win a foul, something that happens quite often in a league where everyone is trying to get the better of us.”
He added, “We are perfectly capable of taking responsibility when we make mistakes, yet no one steps forward to defend us. What saddens me most is that we are the only ones who admit our errors; we have a weekly program where we present our mistakes transparently to everyone.”
He concluded, “To this day, I haven’t heard anyone say, ‘We’ve made mistakes too.’ I would be satisfied if they did just 10% of what we do, and frankly, this is embarrassing.”
