Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso was left fuming after Lorenzo Insigne was handed a contentious red card in his side’s narrow defeat to Inter.
Gattuso was not pleased with the red card shown to Lorenzo Insigne during Napoli’s disappointing disappointing defeat to Inter.
The Partenopei dominated the game and one might say they deserved to win or at least get something from that match.
Gattuso and Napoli had Inter where they wanted until David Ospina caught Matteo Darmian for a penalty in the 70th minute.
Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne raced to the referee and had a spat with him where he was visibly enraged with the decision. To the surprise of all, the referee immediately handed the forward a red card that left many, including Gattuso, bewildered.
Napoli still dominated even after being a man down but Handanovic made several great saves to keep his side in the lead and maintain the precious goal until the end.
After the game, Gattuso could not hide his thoughts at a red card he felt was ‘needless’. He made a point saying what Insigne did is more or less commonplace in other leagues.
“This only happens in Italy,” Gattuso told Sky Sport Italia.
“I told the referee Massa that two minutes before the red card he complimented Insigne on how he was behaving as captain, then two minutes later sent him off.”
“You can’t send off a player, especially the captain, for telling the referee to **** off after a dubious penalty.”
“In England and Scotland, they tell referees to **** off all the time and nothing happens, only in Italy do players get sent off for this sort of thing.”
Gattuso also made reference to his playing days to further stress his point.
“When I was a player, it was a sport, the referee should show some common sense and understand that after a dubious penalty, a player can say **** off and the official should pretend not to hear it. You can’t leave a team down to 10 men for that.”
“He wasn’t even saying it to his face in an aggressive fashion.”
Insigne will now miss games against Lazio, Torino, and Cagliari for Napoli and that would come as a big blow for Gattuso.