Inter boss Ranieri blasts referee in Napoli defeat

02 October 2011 01:35

Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri blasted referee Gianluca Rocchi after his team were beaten 3-0 at home by Napoli in a match where they finished with 10 men.

Inter had Joel Obi sent off in the first half for a second yellow card while Ranieri himself also saw red after raging at the referee at the break.

Television replays showed Obi's first yellow was given for a good tackle while his second, which resulted in a penalty, was for a foul that happened outside the box.

Although Julio Cesar saved Marek Hamsik's penalty, Hugo Campagnaro scored on the follow up. Christian Maggio and Hamsik added further second half goals against the 10 men.

Ranieri was fuming after the game.

"He wasn't equal in his decisions, it was an unfair game. The first half was a great game but Obi was given a first yellow card when he clearly won the ball," said Ranieri.

"Then (the foul) was outside the area and he was given a second yellow card and he was off.

"That ruined the game. We did well in the second half but Napoli knew they could stay back and hit us on the counter and that affected everything.

"It's a shame because we tried very hard but (the referee) messed up everything there was to mess up."

On his own dismissal, Ranieri insisted he hadn't done anything wrong.

"He told me I protested too much and I said well look at you because you've got everything wrong.

"From my experience I can say either a referee has the game in hand or he doesn't and today he didn't.

"I didn't insult him but he sent me off as he sent off Obi, he got it wrong. I accept criticism but was my team wound up from the beginning or only after the referee's decisons?

"We're men, we've got blood inside, it's normal, these decisions didn't please us.

"On the pitch you know if the referee has the personality to control the game but tonight he wasn't on form.

"I've been in this game 20 years and I haven't complained often, that's not my strenghth, normally I say bread is bread and wine is wine."

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri, however, said the final result reflected the fact his team played better.

"I want to thank my players because it's my 50th birthday and this is the best present that they could give me, they're great players," he said.

"We played better than (Inter) and deserved it, we earned this in every respect.

"Against Fiorentina (in a 0-0 draw) there was a clear penalty that wasn't given, against Milan (last season) there was a dubious penalty and we lost.

"Everything can happen, everyone can say something, we don't talk about the penalty against Fiorentina so don't talk about today's incidents."

Mazzarri put Napoli's improvement this season -- they have also beaten champions Milan while they held Manchester City to a draw away in the Champions League -- to increasing maturity.

"We've improved our mentality, playing in Europe last year helped us. We approach the game differently now," he said.

"Playing a friendly against Barcelona helped us, playing in Manchester helped us.

"We haven't done like last season when we were timid when we went to Milan.

"We can still do better, at first today we didn't do well but it came later. Of course it was easier when we had an extra man.

"We're more aware that if we play well we can match anyone."

But as for the title, Mazzarri wouldn't discuss it.

"The title is for newspapers and journalists."

Source: AFP