On top of Juventus’ performance in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Hellas Verona leaving a lot to be desired, there was something that Bianconeri manager Igor Tudor did not hold back on when talking to the Italian media afterward.
The quality of refereeing that was on display at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi as well as at the VAR Center in Lissone.
It all centered around two incidents — one call that was made and one that should have been much worse than what actually took place late in the first half.
The first instance was the handball call against Juventus wingback Joao Mario that directly resulted in the penalty kick that Hellas Verona successfully converted for their lone goal of the night. The second was a call that was not to be as harsh as it very clearly appeared when the same player who scored that game-tying penalty, Gift Orban, put an elbow right into the side of Federico Gatti’s head. The result? Orban only got a yellow.
Naturally, when asked about the first-game changing call, Tudor let it fly.
“The penalty that was given is shameful. How can you … if someone doesn’t see the ball, what is he supposed to do? These kinds of penalties don’t exist. Only people who have never played football could give that. It’s a shameful rule.”
(Quotes via Football Italia/TuttoJuve.com)
And what about the Orban-Gatti incident?
“Then there’s the red card for the foul against Gatti. I was right there, I saw it myself.”
“He didn’t charge, that’s how you have to go in, I’ve never seen two decisions like that. I don’t know what to say. And then, it has to be said, we lacked energy today, even though we prepared at our best.”
“I mean, if you don’t give a red for that, I don’t know what you give a red for. He wasn’t even looking … if that’s not a red, honestly, it’s a disgrace. A disgrace. With VAR, today, these two decisions – no – I don’t want to make excuses, but in the end matches are decided like this.”
Just as a reminder, let’s check out what Orban — who was named the man of the match after the final whistle — late in the first half to draw the ire of Tudor in his post-match media availability …
Ah, yeah. Now you can totally understand as to why Tudor was upset about what happened with Orban, who was only shown a yellow for his clear elbow right to the head of Gatti. It’s something that we’ve seen more than a couple of Juventus players sent off for in recent seasons — even sent off for less than what Orban did. Just a few weeks ago, Andrea Cambiaso was shown a straight red for less just this season and received a two-match ban because of it.
But Orban? Just a yellow card. Not even a review.
Just another instance of the level of Serie A refereeing having completely tanked in recent years.
This is the second time in less than a week that Tudor has hit out at the officiating while making post-match comments. Tudor was also very vocal about how certain refereeing decisions changed Juventus’ wild 4-4 draw with Borussia Dortmund in Juventus’ Champions League league phase opener.
