One of the many things that has gone viral after AC Milan’s 3-0 win over Inter is Simone Inzaghi’s expletive plea to end the game early.
A video of the Inter head coach has been doing the rounds on social media. Inzaghi – who is understandably furious at the result against his side – angrily turns to the fourth official asking not to play any added time.
“I don’t want added time, eh! Don’t take the p*** out of me, eh! I don’t want it! I don’t want it!” he can be seen saying to Gianluca Aureliano. He was clearly intent on returning to the dressing room as soon as possible to put another derby nightmare behind him.
The issue that arose in terms of integrity is that his request was promptly accepted by the fourth official and referee Daniele Doveri, given that no added time was assigned at the end of the second half.
Journalist Carlos Passerini wrote in Il Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews): “The interpretation is very clear: extra time is mandatory, it does not allow exceptions: regardless of the result, if extra minutes need to be given, they must be given.
“Inzaghi and Conceicao had made ten substitutions in total: five for each. Not a small number. Doveri’s direction for the rest was ‘masterful’. That was the only mistake, but it was considered serious. The fourth official is judged jointly responsible.
“There is one more detail in this background. Again according to the refereeing heads, Inzaghi should have been sent off for having addressed the fourth official in such an uncomposed manner.
“He went too far, in the judgment of those responsible, who have long since imposed a crackdown on behaviour. The slogan now is ‘zero tolerance’ for protests.”
Meanwhile, Tuttosport tried to shed some light on the situation, asking former Serie A referee Gianpaolo Calvarese for his insight on what took place.
“A given period of added time can be extended, but not reduced. Specifically, the AIA practical guide clarifies that the referee must recover the lost time, but the length of time to be added is at the referee’s discretion,” he said.
“However, I believe that in a semi-final, where only access to the final is at stake, what Doveri did can be tolerable. However, if I had been in the shoes of the other two semi-finalists, I would have wanted the recovery to have taken place in its entirety, because especially in a derby a player could be sent off in extra time and would have missed the final. It is always essential to stick to the rules.”
