Under fire referee faces axe

Milan: The referee at the centre of Juventus’s controversial 3-2 win over title challengers Roma is set to be sidelined until November as the fall-out from Sunday’s bad-tempered Serie A clash continues to divide Italy.Giancluca Rocchi, considered Italy’s number two referee, was slammed for his handling of the top-of-the-table encounter in Turin which allowed Juventus to pull three points clear.

He is expected to be rested for the remainder of the month to allow the dust to settle, according to reports in Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday, although he has been given the backing of the Italian referees’ association (AIA). “The players on the pitch were totally disrespectful. This is not something we see in the rest of Europe, where players accept the referee’s decision,” AIA said.

Rocchi, who awarded three penalties and issued three red cards during the explosive top-of-the-table clash, said his conscience was clear: “The players didn’t help the situation, but all the same my conscience is clear.”Yet two days after the encounter, opinion over the supposed influence of Juventus — who were stripped of two league titles from 2005 and 2006 for their role in the Calciopoli match-fixing affair remains divided.

Rocchi, meanwhile, has seen his reputation take a battering. The media, after two days of intense analysis, claimed that his biggest mistake of the night was awarding Juventus’s first penalty in the 26th minute when Roma wingback Maicon used his elbow to defend his face from an Andrea Pirlo free kick.

Although Maicon appeared to be just outside the penalty area, Rocchi hesitated, before appearing to bow to pressure from Juve’s angry players.The penalty award, converted by Carlos Teves to give Juve a 1-0 lead, only added fuel to an already combustible atmosphere. And two further penalty decisions led to angry clashes which marred the encounter.