Italian Serie A NewsLaurentiis: “Without us, referees would be peeling potatoes”
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Napoli president, Aurelio de Laurentiis says,’buffoonery from the referee’ led to coach Ancelotti and his assistant send off in the 2-2 Serie A draw with Atalanta.

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In a fiery end to the game, Josip Ilicic’s 86th-minute equalizer stood after a long VAR review. On the other hand, Napoli appealed for a penalty.

Ancelotti and his assistant protested. As a result, the referee did not hold back from showing them the red cards.

“Without us, the referees would be peeling potatoes,” said Laurentiis.

“If there is VAR, it’s pointless creating eight minutes of additional time.  All that happens is pushing and shouting.” He added.

“And what is this buffoonery from the referee who kicks out a gentleman like Ancelotti? We are fed up. We are tired of paying for this standard of officiating.”

The controversy started with Napoli forward, Fernando Llorente colliding with Simo Kjaer in the Atalanta area. All along, the visitors countering and scoring through Ilicic.

A five-minute interruption followed before the referee awarded the goal without reviewing the incident on the touchline monitor.

Ancelotti said, “I consider what happened an attack on my professionalism, my players and my club.”

Goals from Serbian defender, Nikola Maksimovic, and Polish forward, Arkadiusz Milik had twice given the hosts the lead with Remo Freuler scoring for the visitors before the late flashpoint.

Atalanta ranks third in the Serie A table, five points behind the leaders, Juventus who won 2-1 against Genoa with Napoli in the sixth.