It is close to two weeks since the infamous Juventus v Roma clash in Turin but fuel continues to be added to the fire of this intense Italian football rivalry.
The man with the petrol can in his hand on this occasion, figuratively speaking of course, is Giallorossi goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis who is no stranger to making his strong feelings known.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the former Udinese custodian, who missed the match in question through injury, responded to the criticism his side have received from the champions: “What is it they say in Turin? ‘Winning is not [only] important, it is the only thing that counts’.
“Perhaps they should add to that ‘and we do not care how much’. I am not talking about theft, do not misunderstand, but I mean that they should admit they were lucky and not hide behind this argument of a siege.”
He also threw his weight behind introducing slow motion replays to help officials with difficult decisions and admitted that big clubs do tend to get the rub of the green in games and took a sly dig at the Bianconeri in comparing domestic success with their continental forways.
“With the right restrictions, I am certainly in favour of introducing slow motion replays because I think that the role of a referee is a most difficult one,” the experienced goalkeeper added.
“At Udinese, for example, you need to accept that these things will occur against you but it does not surprise you. With Napoli and Roma, it will occur less. You need to make a general assessment of Juventus.
“Look at all they have won in Italian football, but it is not proportional to what they have won in Europe. It makes you think,” he offered.
“The Supercoppa Italiana that I lost in 2012 with Napoli remains the moment I am most bitter about in my career. That is not a nice page in Italian football history.”
