Football
Selene Scarsi 9y

Juve general director Beppe Marotta rejects Napoli criticism of referee

Juventus general director Beppe Marotta has called for criticism to stop after Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis complained about refereeing mistakes during the Serie A champions' 3-1 win at the San Paolo on Sunday night.

De Laurentiis took to Twitter in the aftermath of his side's defeat to complain about preferential treatment towards Juve, posting a series of increasingly angry comments in quick succession

"We're tired of this! Juve are a great club, but if they get extra help from referees they will become unbeatable," he wrote.

"It is unacceptable that six referees didn't see two players in offside. Either they're disingenuous or they are incompetent," he added, referring to Martin Caceres and Giorgio Chiellini being offside when the former scored Juve's second goal.

"These six referees need to be stopped for a long time."

Marotta responded to De Laurentiis' complaints, saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Ours was a transparent win, the result of a more than positive performance. I reject De Laurentiis' accusations -- whenever we win we're accused of stealing.

"We're not in the Italian Super Cup final; the true worth of a club is something that emerges over the course of an entire season, and in matches like this."

Juve coach Allegri echoed Marotta's comments, adding: "This almost makes me smile -- if we start complaining about refereeing decisions this is going to become a mess. Everybody makes mistakes, even referees.

"In Italy, we seem unable to accept defeats and refereeing decisions -- if a referee were to be stopped every single time he makes a mistake, we'd have to referee ourselves!"

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