Yahoo Sports Napoli President De Laurentiis hits back at Marotta, defends Conte, demands new VAR rules
Aurelio De Laurentiis finds Giuseppe Marotta’s words ‘inappropriate’, defends Antonio Conte and demands ‘new’ VAR rules after a controversial penalty incident in Inter-Napoli on Sunday.
Napoli President De Laurentiis responded to his Inter counterpart Marotta in an official statement published on the Partenopei’s website Wednesday morning.
De Laurentiis defended his coach, Conte, who had protested a referee’s decision to give a penalty kick to Inter in the second half of a key Serie A game against Inter on Sunday.
Inter star Calhanoglu had missed the spot-kick, but Conte was still furious and did nothing to hide his feelings after the final whistle.
Inter President Marotta had hit back on Tuesday, saying that the ex-Nerazzurri boss “spoke for a purpose”, but ADL replied.
“I’ve read in Los Angeles some Marotta claims which I find inappropriate,” the Napoli President said.
“According to most pundits, the penalty shouldn’t have been given. But mostly, Conte’s words were clear and were exactly what I thought and always said. VAR is a great tool to avoid referee errors. It makes no sense to say that sometimes it can intervene and sometimes it can’t. If there’s an error, VAR officials must call the referee. Otherwise, you block football’s growth and fuel suspects.
“Furthermore, referees are already in touch with VAR. Why shouldn’t he receive suggestions from those who can see what happened thanks to technology? Conte said obvious things, the same I’ve been saying for years,” added ADL.
Napoli President De Laurentiis hits back at Marotta, defends Conte, demands new VAR rules
“It’s necessary to avoid fueling suspects and doubts, and the respect, as Rocchi said, must be mutual to avoid, as he said, to inflame the league.
“It must be said that referees should be free from any psychological influence, which, on the contrary, is often present among referees and VAR. I think it’s clear to everyone that it’s necessary to set up new VAR rules to avoid inconsistent decisions, which, I repeat, would only contribute to fueling doubt.
“It is also clear that often, on-pitch referees are not happy with intervention from VAR referees because correcting their decisions takes away credibility and autonomy from them. However, when there are clear errors, VAR must intervene by calling the referee to show what happened on the monitor for the good of football.”
Napoli remain the Serie A table leader after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at San Siro, but Inter, Atalanta, Lazio and Fiorentina are just one point below the Partenopei.
