2/6/2006
Reuters

ROME – Players and staff at Inter Milan have accused Serie A match officials of being biased towards Juventus after the Serie A leaders' controversial 1-0 win against Udinese at the weekend.

The result maintained Juve's eight-point cushion over Inter before their top-of-the-table clash at the San Siro on Sunday.

Inter were especially angry over Alessandro Del Piero's winning goal, which video replays showed was scored from a clearly offside position.

They also pointed out several other incidents that had favoured Juve, including a misjudged call for offside when Udinese striker Vincenzo Iaquinta went through alone on goal early on, the 37th-minute sending off of Udinese midfielder Sulley Muntari for a non-existent foul on Pavel Nedved and a rejected appeal for a penalty.

"It's impossible that Juventus gets favourable treatment from the referees," Inter coach Roberto Mancini said with deep irony. "I've seen the television images and I say that Del Piero's goal was good, Muntari's red card right and Vidigal's penalty appeal without any basis at all."

His bitterness was shared by the club's president Giacinto Facchetti.

"Why should we be amazed? Juve has so many resources it can draw on," he said.

Juventus's director general Luciano Moggi hit back at the accusations, pointing out that his side had the best attack in the division, despite being given only one penalty all season.

"In football a referee can make a mistake just like a striker in front of goal. The important thing is to overdramatise the situation," he said.

Some of Inter's players, however, could not hide their frustration.

Midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron claimed the bias towards the team from Turin was long-established.

"Those of us that have been playing in Italy for 10 years are used to it," he said.

"The whole thing is absurd and in all this time nothing has been done to change it."

Inter captain Javier Zanetti was more moderate, but said he hoped the refereeing was of a higher standard when they played Juventus on Sunday.

"Well done to Juventus for winning thanks to a goal scored in offside. These things never happen to us," he said.

"In 11 years in Italy I've seen it all — sometimes even worse than this. But all we can do is believe that referees act in good faith, otherwise we couldn't continue playing.

"As far as Sunday's match goes, I'd like it if (Pierluigi) Collina could act as referee. Unfortunately he's no longer (refereeing)."