The former Juventus president Giampiero Boniperti once sent his Roma counterpart Dino Viola
a plastic ruler so he could measure how much Michel Platini was offside when he crossed
for Sergio Brio to score the decisive goal in a meeting between Juventus and Roma in
1983. One wonders if Andrea Agnelli will be popping one in the post for James Pallotta
after Sunday’s controversial 3-2 win..
It was a Rocchi horror show in Turin. Referee Gianluca Rocchi made a series of dubious decisions
which conditioned the game. Rudi Garcia lamented how the penalty area measures differently
in Turin, it’s 19 not 18 yards in Turin after Juventus were awarded two spot kicks
after incidents on the very edge if not outside the area. While Juventus got the benefit of
the doubt [again] they should also feel aggrieved because denied them a transparent victory
and instead regenerated a climate of suspicion. “Everybody stop there’s been a robbery,”
declared one Rome paper. “League falsified,” read another. I personally think we should
stop indulging conspiracy theories, believe in the good faith of referees and accept human
error but when the staks are high, tensions are too.
Samp followed up last weekend’s win in the Derby della Lanterna against Genoa with another
victory. Manolo Gabbiadini got his third goal in four games and the only one of this one
as the Blucerciati triumphed over Atalanta. It was their fourth win in six games. Mihajlovic
is doing an outstanding job. They’re still unbeaten and haven’t been so at this stage
of the season since they won the Scudetto in 1990-91. No wonder Massimo Ferrero is delirious.
There’s a crisis at Inter. After last weekend’s 4-1 defeat to Cagliari in which coach Walter
Mazzarri was caught by lipreaders saying his players have no balls, they lost heavily again
on Sunday. Outstanding goals by Khoumar Babacar, Juan Cuadrado and Nenad Tomovic were their
undoing before a watching Gabi Batistuta. But Inter lacked ideas, were confused, seemed
out of shape physically and tactically. This team, which was supposed to be more in Mazzarri’s
image and better for it is 6 points worse off than last season and down in 10th.
Meanwhile Inter’s next opponents Napoli are out of their crisis. Despite going a goal
behind to Torino after a stunning control and finish from former player and Neapolitan,
the ingrate Fabio Quagliarella, the Partenopei showed character to come back and win. One
of their own, who has also been whistled this season, Lorenzo Insigne rediscovered his form,
getting Napoli back level with a header before Callejon clinched the points. Napoli have
now won 3 on the spin. The only concern is Gonzalo Higuain who is still yet
to score in the league.