Pepe Reina insists he did not foul Juan Cuadrado and Napoli lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia “because of the referee’s decisions. That is all.”
The Partenopei broke their Press silence to criticise the authorities and TV company RAI after the 3-1 semi-final defeat in Turin.
Pepe Reina insists he did not foul Juan Cuadrado and Napoli lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia “because of the referee’s decisions. That is all.”
The Partenopei broke their Press silence to criticise the authorities and TV company RAI after the 3-1 semi-final defeat in Turin.
“We had a good first half, made Juve split apart and did our work. With the second half incidents, everything changed,” the goalkeeper told Rai Sport.
“The result changed because of the referee’s decisions. That is all.”
He was particularly angry at the penalty awarded for his challenge on Cuadrado, as Reina did get the ball, but arguably didn’t knock it far enough away to be clear and then clattered into the player.
“What am I supposed to do, disappear? If a player gets the ball, he gets the ball, end of story. Are goalkeepers not supposed to touch the ball anymore?
“In my view, I moved the ball, so he either had to jump or get out of the way. In my view, people aren’t talking enough about the penalty on Albiol.
“That incident was definitely more of a penalty than the Cuadrado one. We must certainly learn and improve and play a better second half, but I am absolutely furious. It’s not fair.
“The final result was changed by the refereeing decisions. That is all you can say.”
This Saturday Napoli have a huge Serie A clash with Roma for second place.
“We will try to do our best. It’s a head-to-head against a side in good shape and we need a great performance.”