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Tiago Pinto speaks out against refereeing display in Roma-Milan

Andy Mattioli
I

General Manager Tiago Pinto was interviewed by Sky Sport the day following Roma’s home defeat to Milan.

The Portuguese director addressed Fabio Maresca’s terrible refereeing display:

“First of all, I want to say that I don’t like to talk after games, because I’m always very nervous and very tense, especially when the games are balanced like yesterday. I think it is a theme that requires serenity, today we are all more focused on analysis.”

“I also want to say that Milan played a great match and that maybe they deserved the victory: everything I want to say about refereeing does not serve to hide what may be Roma’s weaknesses.”

“We are professionals and we want to improve, we do this internal reflection every day, but we cannot hide what happened yesterday and what happened in these eleven matches, because the refereeing criteria were so different, so opposite, that I cannot understand. what we have to say to the coach and the players. Equal situations have had totally opposite judgment criteria.”

On specific episodes:

“I don’t want to make a list that would be too annoying, in football there are a lot of subjective things, but there are four or five examples that are very clear and that need to worry us.”

“We have seen Lorenzo Pellegrini, the Roma captain, skip the derby for a double yellow against Udinese, in a situation that I have seen many times in Serie A and for which I have never seen the same measure of punishment applied.”

“In the derby we saw a penalty on Zaniolo which also led to the 2-0: in that circumstance they explained to us that the VAR cannot recall the referee and that it can only do so if there is certainty that a mistake has been made.”

“Yesterday against Milan it is clear that there is no penalty on Ibrahimovic. There is no foul, Ibanez touches the ball and the VAR called the referee to see this situation, because there is a clear error and unfortunately – again against Roma – the referee made the same choice.”

“Even on penalties, in the last minutes of the match there is a penalty on Pellegrini for a contact with Kjaer and perhaps, since the referee ignored the previous call on Ibrahimovic, perhaps this is why the VAR no longer intervened. But if we think that two weeks ago in Inter-Juve the VAR called a much lighter contact and assigned a penalty against Inter that changed the result, we are talking again about opposite criteria, where Roma come way damaged.”

“Finally, yesterday in all Serie A matches the referees always let the game play, they gave the VAR time to develop a correct judgment. Again, unfortunately the only time a referee did not give the right time to assess the situation was in Turin, where a goal was taken away from Abraham.”

“I don’t want to talk about too many situations, but I think these four are clear. And the criterion has always been different, always the opposite and Roma have been damaged.”

Pinto concluded:

“As I said, I believe that Milan played a great match, but I also believe that in all these comparisons Roma have been good on the pitch, they have been at the level of Juve, Napoli and maybe even Milan.”

“Once again: I don’t want to hide Roma’s weaknesses or the work we have to do. I believe that people know that in the culture of this club there is no room to hide what we have to do. And all Roma fans can be sure that we work to improve every day.”

“I think we will improve, because Mourinho has been here for three to four months and it is a process that takes time, I am sure we will improve. But we are all professionals and we cannot hide two very important things: this is a reflection that you too can do, I have seen many Sky broadcasts where people with more credibility than me, like Fabio Capello and many others, have talked about these refereeing criteria in comparison with other leagues and with the Champions League.”

“Here in Italy we have quality players, quality coaches, the national team that are European champions, and yet no one understands the refereeing criteria.”

“I cannot hide the fact that in these eleven matches there are situations in which Roma have clearly been damaged. Just as we are all professionals, just as we need to improve and take responsibility for what we do, it is also time to say enough.”

“Roma and all their professionals and all their fans deserve respect. But I repeat: we don’t want to hide our shortcomings and what we need to improve.”

“But it is time that all together, not being just a Roma problem, we can reflect professionally on these refereeing criteria, because otherwise we lose credibility.”

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MatchDay 30
1 Apr 17:00
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