Just how bad was Fiorentina-Inter Ref Paolo Mazzoleni?
Following another traumatic night for Inter fans, it is hard to avoid the elephant in the room, the refereeing. Last night’s pulsating Fiorentina - Inter clash included three sendings off, a penalty turned down, and some questionable double standards from referee Paolo Mazzoleni. Oh, and an exciting comeback, capped off by a last-minute winner.
But just how bad was Mazzoleni, along with linesmen Alessandro Costanzi and Matteo Passeri?
Simply put, they got a heck of a lot wrong. Here is a catalogue of their oversights.
1' Good start! The linesman flags Nikola Kalinic for offside, when the soon-to-be-mysteriously-extended Yuto Nagatomo had actually kept him onside.
8' Gonzalo Rodriguez floors Geoffrey Kondogbia as the former Monaco man was about to launch a counter. For some reason, he is spared a yellow card... only for Mazzoleni to card Alex Telles for doing essentially the same thing two minutes later. Medel is carded for pointing this out. Inter lose Medel for next week's home game against Sampdoria.
52' Mazzoleni waves play on, despite Kondogbia clearly fouling Tello.
63' Fiorentina are denied a clear penalty: Alex Telles tried to check a cross from the left... by using both his arm and his knee. And the ball hit the former first.
82' Telles is sent off for a non-existent foul. The former Galatasaray man is given his marching orders for a second yellow, despite only getting the ball in a sliding tackle on Federico Bernardeschi.
95' Geoffrey Kondogbia is sent off... for sarcastically applauding Mazzoleni's less-than-perfect handling of the game. Good job he can't send us off, too!