Saverio Sticchi Damianipresident of Leccespoke on the sidelines of the presentation of the second edition of the FIGC Sports Justice Code: “Rocchi said he wasn’t happy with the referees in the last round of the championship? I believe first of all that the level of the referees is high, and with VAR this it is an important starting point. Then there are measures to improve and also to give answers to the fans. Today we underlined the difficulty of us presidents in justifying identical episodes to the fans who are perhaps treated differently from one Sunday to the next. another, and we are then subsequently proposed an interpretation aimed at supporting this diversity. The fan can therefore become confused. There are gray areas that are opening up in football, such as the step on foot for which we the year last year we were victims against Milan with Piccoli’s famous goal of 3-2. Today we see identical episodes which however are not sanctioned. The answers given to us from an interpretative point of view are not convincing therefore our proposal is to sit down try to regulate these cases and to understand the point beyond which we cannot go because disciplining too much distorts the essence of football itself. VAR on call? It must be in addition to the current VAR system. Something that is added, not replaced.”
Lecce’s championship so far. “Maybe we are missing the two points with Parma, we were just a few minutes away from winning a victory, but instead we suffered a comeback which was heavy. Perhaps it is the only real complaint we can make, with those two more points we were perfectly in line with our path, it means that we will have to do them elsewhere. I didn’t mind the performance in Udine at all, the final episode of the punishment condemned us, making us pay a price that was perhaps too high compared to the level of performance that perhaps deserved a draw.” .
Monza blocked Inter to a draw, Cagliari blocked Juve, Empoli also, Parma beat Milan. Where does Lecce score a big hit against the big teams? “We hope to do it as soon as possible, it would allow us to recover the two famous points with Parma that I spoke about before. We have a start, up to the tenth matchday, with teams mainly from the top part of the table. Every opportunity is the right one, then the phase of the direct clashes where an important part of survival is at stake. However, I am calm, I am convinced that the team has been built in a structured way – then obviously everything can be improved -, I am sure of the work that Gotti is doing and that he will give his all. fruits”.
Has the level of the large ones decreased or has that of the small ones increased? “Definitely the second, we knew that this championship would be a bit anomalous. Super-equipped teams have risen from Serie B, and there are medium-small clubs that in the meantime are consolidating in Serie A, so the overall level has risen a lot This year we need to do much more to save ourselves than last year.”