San Siro, Milan, Italy : Serie A referee designator Gianluca Rocchi said match official Federico La Penna was “clearly wrong” to send off Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu during Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Inter Milan and apologised for the decision.
Kalulu was shown a second yellow card after Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni fell to the ground and appealed for a card, indicating his shirt had been pulled. Television replays appeared to show no contact between the players.
Reduced to 10 men following the dismissal, Juventus went on to lose, leaving Inter eight points clear at the top of the Serie A standings.
“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.”
Kalulu made a VAR gesture in protest after being dismissed, but league protocol does not allow the use of video review for yellow-card incidents, including second bookings that result in a sending-off.
Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti and director Giorgio Chiellini later confronted La Penna in the tunnel.
“Something completely unacceptable happened today,” Chiellini told Sky Italia. “It doesn’t matter whether it happens to us or someone else, and from tomorrow presumably VAR will have to change, because it is not acceptable that so many errors keep happening even in big games like this.”
