A debate is currently raging regarding referee Daniele Orsato, who was not given the honour of officiating the Coppa Italia final despite his top level experience.
Earlier today the announcement came that Rome-born referee Paolo Valeri would lead the officiating team in the upcoming Coppa Italia final between Juventus and Inter, an honour for a referee. Some had expected Orsato to be given the right to referee the match, considering his top level experience, which includes the 2020 Champions League final between PSG and Bayern Munich.
Former referee Graziano Cesari gave his thoughts on the Coppa Italia final and Orsato when speaking on Italia Uno, underlining why the 46-year-old Italian referee shouldn’t be given the match.
“For the Coppa Italia final between Juventus and Inter, I would prefer a referee from Rome, with great experience, who knows the players well. Paolo Valeri would be the best.
“In this match, where there are consecutive mistakes by different referees, I wouldn’t send a referee who did what Daniele Orsato did three years ago.”
The mistake Cesari is referring to is the infamous missed red card for Miralem Pjanic in a tense Serie A clash between Inter and Juventus back in April 2018. It’s a mistake that has haunted Orsato and has often been brought up over the last few years.
Journalist Giovanni Capuano highlighted how Orsato has only officiated one big match between the top three Serie A teams across the last four seasons, a sign of his low stock in Serie A. In that period he officiated the Champions League final as well as three Euro 2020 games.
Nelle ultime quattro stagioni #Orsato ha diretto una sola volta un big match tra squadre nelle prime 3 posizioni della classifica: Napoli–Milan quest'anno. Eppure nel frattempo ha fatto una finale di #ChampionsLeague e una miriade di gare di altissimo livello in Europa.
Perché? pic.twitter.com/HEjMtaGXex
— Giovanni Capuano (@capuanogio) May 9, 2022
Orsato is one of the worst referees in Serie A and the competition is fierce so go figure…
the same referee who allowed Bonucci to headbutt him LoL
same referee that allowed Casemiro to do whatever he liked without being booked. With all these high profile errors why is he still given big matches to referee as he is clearly incompetent
Top level cheat maybe. He’s a natural at that though. Credit where credit’s due.