It must suck to be an Italian referee not named Nicola Rizzoli. He basically owns that league, and whenever there’s a big match, he’s pretty much like: “All your base are belong to us!”. Little dude’s not into sharing.* No other referee is really going to have a legitimate shot at anything cool until Rizzoli retires or gets the measles. In the meantime,
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The Serie A title is very nearly in Juventus’ pocket. But there’s still plenty to play for, particularly between second place Roma and fourth place Fiorentina. (And you have to wonder what Fiorentina could have done this year without the massive injuries – including to Giuseppe Rossi, who lost his lead on league goals weeks after he was injured.) Paolo Mazzoleni
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Way back on February 2, Serie A referee Andrea DeMarco made the decision to postpone the Roma v. Parma match due to torrential rains and a boggy pitch. The match was replayed on Tuesday, April 2, with the same referee. In fact, everything was the same: The kickoff time was the same Two players who were suspended then, but not
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Roma and Parma will play their match that was originally scheduled for February 2 exactly two months later, on Tuesday, April 2. That match was originally suspended due to rain. Andrea de Marco (above) will once again be the man in the middle.
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Poor Nicola Rizzoli. Being in Serie A, he basically referees the equivalent of a bunch of 10-year-olds on energy drinks every weekend. Sassuolo v. Roma was a prime example. It was a game of crying and begging and surrounding him at every turn. But one particular situation stood out: a penalty call in the 33rd-ish minute (I’ll explain the “ish”
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One of the biggest matches is Sunday between AC Milan (still a threat despite their ninth place position) and league leaders Juventus. The call-up for this is a bit of a surprise: Marco Guida (above). Guida is one of the younger up and comers in Italian refereeing, and recently attended a UEFA seminar for the first time. He’s very talented
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The match of the week is obviously the Lazio v. Roma derby. The third best referee in Italy will be in the middle: Daniele Orsato (above). Personally, I like Orsato. Good man manager, solid positioning, all around nice guy. (I actually don’t know that; he could be completely insufferable, for all I know.) I mean, he’s no Nicola Rizzoli, but then,
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So, apparently climate change is everywhere, because it’s been raining buckets in Rome for, like, six weeks. Or that must be how it feels to them. There’s so much rain that the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency in the city. It rained for 24 hours before the Roma v. Parma match, and the teams walked out onto
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Oh, how I love Nicola Rizzoli. This guy is the best of the best, both in Italy and internationally. And while he’s much more measured on the international circuit (his 2013 Champions League final was a master class in letting a game flow), he plies his trade in the drama-filled theater that is Serie A. Bless him. Most weeks, he
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 