Former Renault F1 team principle Flavio Briatore felt Adrien Rabiot did commit a handball in Juventus’ win over Inter and revealed he was once close to buying Napoli.
The Italian businessman, who was forced to resign from his role in Formula One after being embroiled in a race fixing scandal, was part owner of English side Queens Park Rangers from 2007 to 2011.
A well-known Juventus fan, Briatore closely watched the Derby d’Italia on Sunday, which saw Rabiot at the centre of controversy for possibly handling the ball in the build-up to Juventus’ winning goal. A four-minute VAR check did not overturn the goal, infuriating Inter.
Speaking to GR Parlamento, Briatore first weighed in on the 15-point deduction handed to Juventus by the FIGC court.
“If the club made mistakes they must pay, but not the players, who have nothing to do with it. The 15-point penalty, it’s not known if it will remain, let them decide and that will be the end of it.”
The former Renault F1 team principle then gave his thoughts on Rabiot’s possible handball in the Derby d’Italia.
“Rabiot’s handball was a handball, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about assistance towards Juve, given that they took 15 points away from us.
“The referee made a mistake, he has to take responsibility without passing it all on to VAR, but there have been mistakes both against Inter and against us in the course of the season.
“The Nerazzurri still had time to recover but they played a bad game. Juventus deserved to win.”
Finally, Briatore confirmed that he was once close to buying Napoli before deciding not to.
“It’s true but I am not regretting it, with football I tried in England with QPR but I also had F1 and I couldn’t manage everything.
“F1 is an extraordinary commitment and I couldn’t manage F1 and football. Football is great to watch on TV and in the stadium, when you are an owner, it is very difficult.
“De Laurentiis has done a super job at Napoli, despite the lead the team still has an extraordinary hunger.”