Juve cry foul over penalty decision

ROME, February 5, 2012 (AFP) - Juventus were indignant on Sunday following their disappointing 0-0 draw at home to minnows Siena, insisting they should have been awarded a penalty after Simone Vergassola handled the ball.

The incident occurred when a cross from Giorgio Chiellini hit Vergassola and the ball struck the Siena defender somewhere around the shoulder and upper arm area but even television replays failed to give a conclusive indication.

Nonetheless, Juve coach Antonio Conte was furious.

"It's counter-productive analysing individual incidents but the images are eloquent," said Conte.

"I find it strange that in 21 matches we've only had one penalty for us and three against but then the refereeing was good," he added with more than a little irony.

Juve general manager Giuseppe Marotta was far more outspoken in his condemnation of referee Sebastiano Peruzzo.

"Peruzzo didn't see the incident, it's an important decision and I hope in future we get top level referees," he said.

"It was a sacrosanct penalty, legitimate, transparent, everyone realised that.

"Peruzzo's refereeing was insufficient, traditionally the top teams are given international level referees but instead we were given a young one."

That was an unfortunate comment given Juventus's match-fixing history in which they were relegated to Serie B six years ago in the Calciopoli scandal in which they were ringing the Refereeing Commission to ask for specific referees to officate their games.

Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did at least admit his team could not blame the result on that one decision.

Although dominating possession and territory, Juve created only one decent chance in the whole game and the best opportunity fell to Siena's Alessandro Gazzi late on.

"Let's make something clear, if we didn't win the game it wasn't because of the referee," he said.

"However, it's also clear that in certain situations, when maybe you don't manage to express yourself in the best way, an incident can change the flow of the game.

"We created that incident and the referee, in a good position, didn't see it.

"Sometimes winning or losing comes down to a moment of attention, it can condition a season and that would be a shame."

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