At the end of the first half of Rome-Sassuolo, one episode recalled the expulsion of the Juventus player Kean against the Giallorossi. The protagonist in the negative, this time, the Roma defender Marash Kumbulla. The referee Michael Fabbri reviewed the incident on the monitor and decided to show the Albanian player red light and award a penalty to the neroverdi which was then converted by Dominic Berardi (the goal of the momentary 3-1). But let’s rewind the tape and analyze the action.
Kumbulla and Berardi, what happened
A through ball arrives in the Roma penalty area on which Kumbulla and Berardi pounce. The defender uses his body to ensure that the ball lands comfortably in the goalkeeper’s arms Rui Patricio: mission accomplished, the Portuguese picks it up without problems. An instant later, however, the Roma player falls on top of his opponent, who had tried a stunt from the ground. An apparently normal fall, but Kumbulla gets up and kicks Berardi. Tempers flare and he comes close to brawling. At that point Fabbri, recalled by Var Pairetto, runs to the monitor and takes the inevitable decision: red for Kumbulla and a penalty for Sassuolo. Why rigor? Because the ball was in play, even if in the arms of the Roma goalkeeper. According to the regulation, that kick is also a foul, therefore an inevitable penalty.
Berardi’s blow: that’s why Kumbulla was furious
However, Roma protested in a decisive way because they would have liked the referee’s treatment of Kumbulla to also affect Berardi. As can be seen from the images, before the defender’s kick to the opponent, Berardi’s left leg, from the ground, approaches the Roma player’s groin area until it hits it. In a continuous manner, even if the referee team evidently considered the gesture not relevant. To the point of not transmitting it to the fieldside monitor to referee Fabbri. But it was precisely this movement, considered voluntary by Kumbulla, that triggered his reaction. And it prompted Roma, already in press silence for the two-match disqualification confirmed for Mourinho, to open a new front for discussion with the refereeing class. Kumbulla, on the other hand, goes from joy for the goal scored against Real Sociedad to the calm to be found after a crazy gesture that will force him to miss the derby.
Mourinho makes the gesture of handcuffs, the appeal rejected: two rounds of stoppages confirmed, he will miss Sassuolo and the derby with Lazio. Rome in press silence
by Marco Juric