Juventus boss kisses feminine reporter to point out ‘contact is not the identical as impression’
Juventus manager Luciano Spalletti kissed a female reporter during a bizarre post-match interview as he ranted over a controversial VAR decision
Luciano Spalletti took aim at a controversial VAR decision in a bizarre way
Juventus boss Luciano Spalletti bizarrely kissed a female reporter during a post-match rant after the controversial 2-2 draw against Lazio.
The Turin giants required a 96th minute equaliser from Pierre Kalulu to rescue a draw from a game they dominated. Lazio found themselves 2-0 up after goals just minutes either side of the half-time whistle before Weston McKennie halved the deficit on the hour mark.
Juventus eventually forced a last-gasp goal to salvage a point but Spalletti was left furious with the officials at full-time. Teun Koopmeiners saw a goal disallowed for offside at 0-0 and Spalletti felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Juan Cabal was felled by Mario Gila in the build-up.
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Making his point in a bizarre way, Spalletti insisted there has to be a clearer view on what should be a penalty.
He told DAZN reporter Federica Zille: “The referee can interpret it the way he wants, because the defender is imprudent when going into that sliding tackle, so he takes a risk.
“Everyone now goes to protest about the rules, but there is always an interpretation.
“The pressure of a step on foot, handball that nobody sees in the stadium but they zoom in with the camera, it is all open to interpretation. You cannot generalise that every contact is a penalty.”
DAZN refereeing chief Luca Marelli also agreed with Spalletti that Juventus should have been awarded a penalty. But the Italian boss called the rules “too rigid” before bizarrely planting a kiss on Federica’s cheek before declaring: “Contact is not the same as impact.”
Federica was left shocked by the moment and gave an awkward smile as Spalletti continued on his rant. “The rules are too rigid right now, it is the rigidity that I find to be the problem,” the 66-year-old vented.
“If nobody even realises it hit a hand, who is damaged by that? The analysts keep saying ‘there was contact,’ but that doesn’t mean anything, does it? May I kiss you, here, this is contact.
“It’s about context, contact is not the same thing as impact. There will always be difficulty if there are rules where every touch of the hand is a penalty, every step on foot is a penalty.
“This is what VAR is for, you can evaluate the context in its totality.
“If we stick to the rules, then that is definitely a penalty, because Gila goes into a sliding tackle and takes responsibility for that gesture when he doesn’t get the ball.”
