The referee designator Gianluca Rocchi has revealed why he chose to give Simone Sozza the Milan derby on Sunday night.
The Milan-born Sozza has been appointed as the referee for Sunday’s derby della Madonnina between Inter and Milan. It is not his first rodeo when it comes to this game, as he took charge of the Supercoppa Italiana final earlier in the year, which the Rossoneri came back to win 3-2.
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Sozza was also the referee in the last Rome derby between Lazio and Roma in September, dishing out two red cards. In fact, he has handed out six red cards in nine games refereed this season across all competitions.
It’s not very often that Rocchi speaks to the media about his decision to allocate certain referees to certain games, but he spoke on Sky about the upcoming Derby della Madonnina and choosing Sozza.
“I chose him because he’s a referee who’s improving rapidly. He’s reached an excellent level and is also regularly called up to the Champions League,” he said (via MilanPress).
“He’s a referee who gives us guarantees, and the fact that he’s from Milan doesn’t concern us. In fact, this taboo about referee origins has been overcome. I must thank the clubs who have never discussed the origins, but rightly only want quality referees.”
The question is, which side of the Milan divide did he “grow up” on?
Who the heck cares about that.
So long as he is fair in his officiating, like he was in the SuperCoppa Final, then that would be already the best thing.
Milan don’t need an advantage from refs, they need the game to be whistled fairly. That is all.