This archive report was first published on 12 July 2020.
July 12, 2020
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has called for a change in the way the handball rule is interpreted in Italian football, after his team drew 2-2 at Juventus.
The draw kept Atalanta third in the table, nine points behind Juventus, with six games each left to play.
Two penalties were awarded against Atalanta, both for handball, with the first coming when Marten de Roon was struck at point-blank range, and the second when Luis Muriel was hit in a similar manner.
“Those are the rules, well, at least, in Italy,” said Gasperini. “What do we do, cut off the player’s arms?”
Gasperini believes that the rule is being interpreted too strictly, and that it is not being applied in the same way in other leagues around the world.
“That’s not the first penalty given like that, there have been so many. Is the rule interpreted like that in any other league in the world? We need to change the way we interpret the rules,” he said.
Despite the frustration, Gasperini was pleased with his team’s performance, saying that they had done “really well against the league leaders”.
Atalanta face Paris St Germain in the Champions League quarters, which will take place over one leg in Lisbon in August.
