Several controversies have followed the official designation by AIA yesterday morning about the referee for Juventus-Inter. Maurizio Mariani will be directing the Derby d’Italia for the third time in his career, as remembered by the Nerazzurri fans for a precedent between the two teams dating back to October 2021.
On that occasion, the whistle of the Aprilia section blew a doubtful penalty in favor of the Bianconeri due to a contact between Dumfries and Alex Sandro, after the decisive intervention from the Var room. Yet, as the Corriere dello Sport writes this morning, Chief Designator Gianluca Rocchi found himself ‘cornered’ when assigning the big matches of the 25th round.
Due to the absence of Colombo, who is engaged in the Sub20 in Venezuela, and the critical season of Sozza, the only two remaining UEFA Elite internationals are Mariani and Massa. Guida, possibly the best Italian referee around, has been out for a few weeks due to injury.
Hence, Rocchi rather forcibly chose to assign Mariani and Massa the most critical matches of this round: Juventus-Inter to the former and Lazio-Napoli to the latter. Two big and far from trivial matches that can potentially steer the heated Scudetto battle between Inzaghi and Conte.
