Juve directors condemned Pierre Kalulu’s dismissal but beyond the outrage there were reasons to take heart
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t the end of a spectacular, ferocious Derby d’Italia, none of Juventus’s players nor their manager would answer questions from the media. Instead, their chief executive, Damien Comolli, and director of football strategy, Giorgio Chiellini, spoke on the club’s behalf. They were not there to discuss tactical nuance.
“You can’t talk about football today,” said Chiellini. “Something unacceptable happened.” Comolli offered an even more grave verdict: “Juventus lost three points, but Italian football lost much more.” A strong claim. If true, might Comolli have done better to acknowledge his part in it?
At half-time, Comolli had to be physically separated from the referee, Federico La Penna. The Juve manager, Luciano Spalletti, was shouting at the official as the teams headed into the tunnel but even he seemed to realise things were escalating in an ugly direction when Comolli arrived to join in, turning to shove him away instead.
