A furious Aurelio De Laurentiis claims referees would be “peeling potatoes” if it was not for Serie A owners after Napoli’s controversial 2-2 draw with Atalanta.
Napoli were denied a penalty by VAR late on against Atalanta, who in turn equalised for a dramatic point, prompting De Laurentiis to take aim at the state of refereeing in Italy.
"I don’t think Rizzoli and Nicchi do their job well,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
A furious Aurelio De Laurentiis claims referees would be “peeling potatoes” if it was not for Serie A owners after Napoli’s controversial 2-2 draw with Atalanta.
Napoli were denied a penalty by VAR late on against Atalanta, who in turn equalised for a dramatic point, prompting De Laurentiis to take aim at the state of refereeing in Italy.
"I don’t think Rizzoli and Nicchi do their job well,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“They’ll say that it’s not for De Laurentiis to say, but what I will say is that I, like the other Serie A Presidents who help ensure Serie B and Serie C both exist, have the right to be heard.
“Otherwise, Mr [Nicola] Rizzoli and [Marcello] Nicchi will have 80m Italians, who are tired of this arrogance and haughtiness, to answer for.
“This invincibility of Rizzoli and Nicchi is extremely annoying. If there is a VAR, it’s useless to create 8-9 minutes of injury time because all that happens is just pushing and shouting.
“Then you have this piece-of-trash referee who sends off a gentleman like Ancelotti. If I was him, I’d leave this place, where the referees don’t know how to officiate like they do in England. Enough!
“We’re tired, we’re the ones who fund football. Without us, they’d be peeling potatoes!
“I have the right, for the money I’ve invested in football, for the respect of my players and the other team, to see the VAR images. After that, what about the fans?
“This version of football is insanely sick that we haven’t been able to change it for 30 years now!
“We’re tired of being involuntary supporters of referees, also in a financial sense. We can’t allow the highest-ranking Serie A teams to run up debts of €300m and still let these people play.”
Despite his scathing criticism, the movie mogul distanced the Dea from his tone.
“Atalanta are a team I respect a lot. Gasperini’s a great Coach. I still have his contract signed in my office in 2011 or 2013 before we renewed Mazzarri for another two years.
“He did well with Genoa and has done even better with Atalanta. He worked at Inter too, but obviously it’s difficult to work at big clubs where the owners don’t have direct contact with the Coach.
“I have to congratulate my players too. There are still many games remaining. We still have 28 after this, plus we have European games, so we’ll have a chance to make amends and stay up there.
“I’m a person beyond all suspicion. I ask for clarity and respect, not the usual ‘let’s scrape by.’ On Mondays, we always forget everything.
“Dear Nicchi and Rizzoli, you have to show your faces. So far, you’ve done things badly. You’re bad actors.”