Gonzalo Higuain’s agent says his client deserves only a one-game ban and repeats “Juventus had help, unlike Napoli”.
The Partenopei striker was sent-off in yesterday’s defeat to Udinese, and may be facing a lengthy ban after appearing to push the referee and having to be dragged off the pitch.
Gonzalo Higuain’s agent says his client deserves only a one-game ban and repeats “Juventus had help, unlike Napoli”.
The Partenopei striker was sent-off in yesterday’s defeat to Udinese, and may be facing a lengthy ban after appearing to push the referee and having to be dragged off the pitch.
Higuain’s agent and brother Nicolas has previously alleged that leaders Juve have had help from referees, and spoke on Radio Crc this afternoon.
“I’m disappointed too,” Higuain said.
“Yesterday’s defeat is bad, but there are seven games to go, seven finals, and we can win them all.
“Mathematically you can’t say that Napoli can’t win the Scudetto, so I’m still optimistic even if it has become difficult.
“Juve are the best team, no question, but they’ve had some help, unlike Napoli. Against Sampdoria, for example, there was a non-existent penalty given against Napoli.
“Winning the Scudetto is very hard, but you just have to keep winning. It’s hard to see two penalties being blown for in 10 minutes at this stage of the season, of which one was scored and one wasn’t.
“Gonzalo has never seen such a thing in his career, and it makes you think bad things.
“I spoke with Gonzalo after the game, he was angry and disappointed and he vented. It’s difficult to battle the wind and the tide.
“Yesterday he was given a yellow for protesting about a non-existent offside, so we await the decision of the giudice sportivo [disciplinary committee].
“We saw a few days ago a Juventus player having a word with the referee and getting no sanction, so hope the decision for Higuain is one or two games.
“He protested because he wasn’t offside, you can see that from the images. There’s so much injustice in football, and things like that change seasons.
“Gonzalo’s reaction was that of a player who feels there is injustice against him, because there was a foul on him by [Dias] Felipe and the referee didn’t blow immediately.
“It’s a game situation, and the referee waited for Gonzalo’s reaction before whistling. It’s a foul in Argentina, and everywhere else in the world, but I’m not sure about Italy.
“Dignity and pride come first, but when you see that kind of thing you begin to think bad things.
“If the law at the giudice sportivo is the same for everyone, then just as with [Leonardo] Bonucci’s headbutt on [referee Nicola] Rizzoli [in the Derby della Mole. Rizzoli denies there was any headbutt] I expect Higuain to be banned for only one game.
“Bonucci didn’t get a red card, so Higuain should get one game.
“You can’t take Higuain’s behaviour as an example and ban him to make it clear to others what not to do on the pitch – if you don’t do it with Bonucci you can’t do it with Higuain. I expect a fair verdict.”
Next weekend sees Juventus make a difficult trip to San Siro to face Milan, while Napoli welcome bottom-side Verona.
“We must win at all costs against Verona, then wait for Juventus’ result as they’ll have a difficult game.
“We must subdue our anger and think positively, looking forward because Napoli’s season has been outstanding.
“Napoli’s football is beautiful, it entertains all the fans.”