Walter Mazzarri was not impressed with the work of referee Lorenzo Maggioni in Cagliari’s 1-0 loss to Roma tonight.
The Giallorossi were given a penalty after just four minutes in tonight’s match, but the referee changed his mind following a VAR check. Jose Mourinho’s side were awarded another penalty in the 33rd minute, and this time it stood; new signing Sergio Oliveira scored the resulting spot kick. Despite Cagliari’s resurgence in the second half, they couldn’t find an equaliser and so their fate was sealed.
Speaking in an interview with DAZN after the game, Mazzarri first reacted to the defeat to Roma this evening.
“First of all I like to talk about the game, we played a great match. I wanted to see the Zappa incident, do you have it? Because I understand the nervousness of a young referee in a big stadium, but to reverse so many calls…
“Today we deserved the draw, but maybe also the win, especially for the second half. They were in trouble, we created two clear-cut chances and we’d like more attention. I don’t like that there were half-hearted fouls, especially in midfield. Nowadays football is all about confrontations. I’d like there to be more respect.”
He commented on the performance of new signing Edoardo Goldaniga.
“With three training sessions he played an incredible game, like Altare. He’s a guy who’s surprising us. We could have done more with our decisions. In the first half we did things hastily, the team held the pitch and played.”
The Italian coach explained his decision to start Gastón Pereiro over Nahitan Nandez.
“Pereiro made the difference in the previous game. He played little, he doesn’t have the 90 minutes fatigue. We had studied the game well to put pressure on Roma with Pavoletti, Joao Pedro and Gaston up front.
“The game unfolded as we had planned. Nandez did very little training. Had he been fit I would have played him from the start, but we played the same way.”
Finally, Mazzarri discussed the transfer window and if any new arrivals are expected in the remaining two weeks.
“The president knows what I’d like, but I can’t talk about it. First of all because if you say you want a player the price increases, then I also know that the market is difficult at the moment.
“Since we’ve signed young defenders, I think several youngsters would gladly come to play for Cagliari. We have to continue like this with all the teams. We can do well, obviously if someone came in to help us it wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
The 37-year-old referee Maggioni has only overseen seven Serie A games in total, being a fairly new addition to the roster of topflight officials.
#Mazzarri: "Capisco la sudditanza, ma invertire tutti i falli… Abbiamo schiacciato la Roma e meritavamo anche di vincere" #ASRoma #RomaCagliari https://t.co/MyW5SVpNEf
— Pagineromaniste.com (@PagineRomaniste) January 16, 2022