Inter and Juventus have played two spectacular derbies this season, with 180 minutes of football seeing 12 goals and one victory for the great rivals in the Derby d'Italia.
In September last year, the hero of the "old lady" was our Vasilije Adžić, who scored a goal in the final minute of the match in Turin to bring about a 4:3 triumph, and on Saturday at the "Meaca" Pjotr Zielinski got his revenge - scoring the final goal for 3:2 in the 90th minute.
Inter continued their winning streak, Inter is the leader with eight points more (and a game more than Milan), but the day after the derby, the front pages of the media in the Apennines were reserved for photos of Alessandro Bastoni and Pierre Kalulu - defenders of Inter and Juve, respectively.
All because of a detail from the 42nd minute with the score tied at 1:1 when referee Federico La Pena gave Kalulu a second yellow card for an alleged foul on the Italian international.
The footage showed that Kalulu reached out to grab Bastoni, probably just brushing his shirt, and his rival took advantage of it to fall too easily and attractively. La Pena tripped and sent Kalulu off, and Bastoni celebrated as if he had scored the winning goal in the 90th minute.
Juventus were bitter after the derby, because it was once again proven that the system does not work and the main problem in that situation from the 42nd minute was that VAR does not have the right to analyze the awarding of yellow cards.
Otherwise, Juve would have been left with 11 men on the pitch, and Bastoni would probably have received a yellow card for simulation - and it would have been his second. Then the derby would almost certainly have had a different course and outcome.
- There is no talk of football, this is the end of the system. After a decision like this, something has to change, because the same things happen week after week - said Giorgio Chiellini, a playing legend, now one of the leaders of Juventus.
The refereeing organization also reacted and admitted that La Pena made a mistake and did Inter a favor.
- Referee La Pena's mistake is obvious because Bastoni staged a foul - said the head of Italian referees Gianluca Rocchi.
We are all sorry that it happened. Both because of the decision, which was wrong, but also because we could not use VAR in that situation. And honestly, I am sad that only we referees in Italian football admit mistakes. No one else does that - Rocchi pointed out.
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Juve coach Luciano Spalletti did not make any statements after the match (after which he wanted to physically confront La Pena), but his colleague Christian Chivu did:
- I saw a slight contact between Bastoni and Kalulu - said the Romanian.
When asked if he would have been angry if this had happened to him while he was a player, he replied:
- If I already have a yellow card, I would never use my hands on an opponent who is running on a counterattack - added Kivu.
Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, a big Milan fan, has also spoken out, demanding that Alessandro Bastoni be excluded from the Italian national team for inappropriate behavior, and his post on social media has been met with a "counterattack" from Inter fans. They are reminiscent of Gianluigi Buffon's statement in the 2012 case from the Milan-Juventus match and the famous moment when Sali Muntari's goal for the "Rossoneri" was not recognized even though the ball crossed the goal line by almost a meter...
- I'm a goalkeeper and I watch the ball, not the goal line. And even if I saw it cross the line - of course I wouldn't admit it to the referee - said Buffon, the legendary goalkeeper of Juve and the Italian national team.
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