Referee Marco Di Bello failed to award a penalty to Bologna in their draw with Juventus and Corriere dello Sport revealed his explanation to the Rossoblu directors.
Bologna held the Bianconeri to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday evening and the match wasn’t without controversy, with one incident in particular continuing to generate tension amongst supporters.
Dan Ndoye suffered a heavy challenge from Samuel Iling Junior deep in the penalty box in the 72nd minute, an incident that appeared to be a clear penalty, but no foul was called and played continued. Bologna were 1-0 up at the time but ended up conceding the equaliser less than 10 minutes later.
Page 14 of today’s Corriere dello Sport details how the AIA – Italian Referees Association – are furious with Di Bello’s work in that game and are now set to sideline him for over a month as punishment. There is seemingly a consensus that his decision-making was insufficient on Sunday evening.
The referee initially explained to the Bologna bench that “it’s not a foul because they both came together at the same time”, something that doesn’t explain why VAR failed to rectify the call.
At the end of the match, Di Bello tried to explain the decision to Bologna’s directors – first sporting director Marco Di Vaio and then chairman Claudio Fenucci. When asked why he didn’t give the penalty, he responded: “Because I didn’t give the one on Chiesa.”
Fourth official Matteo Marcenaro was a little more forthcoming, however, telling the Bologna directors: “If we have made a mistake, we apologise.”
La Repubblica reports that referee designator Gianluca Rocchi has decided to publicise the conversation between Di Bello and the VAR team in order to shed light on the incident publicly.