History repeats itself. Eighteen years after that May 14, 2000 it's Juventus vs Collina again, only this time the level of the clash moves from the pitch to the Palazzo. At the time, in fact, it was a matter between the club and the referee, with the former foaming anger against the latter for the famous "match of the marsh" which cost the Scudetto, but today we are talking about the highest football systems and the battle does not concern only Juve but everything Italian football.
Yes, because if many know that Collina is the appointee of the UEFA referees, it is not equally known that Agnelli is not only the president of the black and whites but also of the ECA (European Club Association), the body that represents the football clubs of the Old Continent . And so Andrea, taking advantage of the episode at the Bernabeu, launched a real broadside against Pierluigi, according to him guilty of "disadvantaging the Italians for reasons of personal vanity".
The president, to give strength to the concept, in fact mentioned refereeing episodes against Milan, Rome and Lazio, thus standing up as a champion of all Italian football; not only that: the request to have the VAR also in Europe ("courses should be made for referees who don't know how to use it and quickly") is a great gauntlet for Ceferin, so far opposed to the introduction of technology in “his” competitions.
In short, it is evident that we are dealing with something big, a clash between giants transferred from the Palace to people's homes: in fact, having chosen Mediaset in a moment of maximum listening is certainly not accidental. Now however, waiting to see how it will end, some considerations remain to be made. The first: the Italian teams have effectively been underdogs and this applies to all competitions, from the glamorous Champions League to the more working-class Europa League.
The rigor with which Arsenal eliminated Milan, those (at least two!) denied to Roma in Barcelona, that of Salzburg's momentary draw at Lazio, without forgetting Tottenham-Juve, which ended up being forgotten only thanks to the Juventus comeback. Sensational episodes, all in one direction.
It's hard to believe in an anti-Italian Collina because of the famous law of contrappasso (you're Italian like me and therefore I'll punish you, otherwise they might think I want to favor you), certain however that when in doubt, he always boos against us, in one way or another in the other. Our fault too, unable to have a federal president who represents us and, at the right time, defends us even at the cost of raising our voices, in any case the problem remains and will have to be tackled in the best possible way.
Because you want to tell people that matches are decided only on the pitch…
We are talking about the fact that Pierluigi Collina is the man who, at a European level, appoints the referees for international cup matches. Clear?
But does Collina referee the games? I don't think what are we talking about?