Ranieri Talk

Ranieri: I'm still angry
Monday 25 February, 2008

The controversy over Paolo Dondarini’s officiating in Juventus’ defeat at Reggina rages on with Claudio Ranieri insisting he is “speechless”.

The Old Lady have written a letter to the FIGC claiming that they are being discriminated against after dubious refereeing proved costly at the Stadio Granillo last Saturday.

Ranieri’s side had a good penalty shout waved away and conceded the all-important second goal in the dying minutes courtesy of a hotly-debated spot-kick for Reggina.

“I don’t want to go into the merits of all Dondarini’s decisions but the lack of justice leaves you speechless and perplexed,” the Juve Coach moaned on Tg1.

“It surprised me so much because Dondarini is one of the best referees and takes charge at international level.”

Dondarini turned down Juve’s appeals for a penalty despite an apparent trip from Carlos Valdez on Mohamed Sissoko, but it seems that the referee may have acknowledged the foul.

“For the penalty we should have had, when he indicated that he had played advantage because the ball broke to Alessandro Del Piero it showed that he had seen it and made an erroneous decision,” Ranieri revealed.

It was a dark night for Sissoko as he was penalised at the other end when his attempted bicycle-kick clearance saw him connect with Nicola Amoruso’s shoulder.

“The spot-kick that Sissoko gave away could have been a spot-kick even though he had no idea that there was a player behind him,” Ranieri concluded.

*channel4