Giorgio Chiellini called for change in the way referees are overseen in Italy after the “unacceptable” decision to send off Pierre Kalulu in Juventus’ defeat to Inter.
Piotr Zielinski scored a 90th-minute winner to clinch the bragging rights in Saturday’s Derby d’Italia, with Inter’s 3-2 triumph stretching their lead at the top of Serie A to eight points.
But Juventus were left fuming by Federico La Penna’s decision to show Kalulu a second yellow card in the 42nd minute, when he pulled back Alessandro Bastoni to prevent an Inter break.
Bastoni went down rather theatrically and several Juve players confronted the referee, while their head coach Luciano Spalletti refused to speak to the media at full-time.
Club director Chiellini appeared in his place and demanded change, telling Sky Sport Italia: “We cannot talk about football after what happened today. Something completely unacceptable happened today.
“It doesn’t matter whether it happens to us or someone else, and from tomorrow, presumably VAR will have to change, because it is not acceptable that so many errors keep happening even in big games like this.
“We’ve been trying to say since the start of the season that the level of refereeing is not up to the task, and this, unfortunately, is the spectacle we showed to the rest of the world today.
“It happened to many teams this season. We have to change, we cannot keep procrastinating the way we always do in Italian football.
“I don’t know if they’re not trained properly, not up to the task, whatever the reason for it, the fact is that referees are not up to the standard of Serie A football.”
Damien Comolli and Giorgio Chiellini’s comments after #InterJuve
https://t.co/I0YQCyjoIf pic.twitter.com/v7LqUjh7Ep
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) February 14, 2026
Gianluca Rocchi, the designator of referees for Serie A and Serie B, has come under pressure throughout this season, and Chiellini believes he should stand down.
“If you want to make it clear, it is obvious that the group of referees are not working, so if Rocchi keeps saying he’ll go, then we’ll see now if he does go,” Chiellini added.
“Last week [Daniele] De Rossi complained, before that [Gian Piero] Gasperini and [Antonio] Conte, so we are not the first and we won’t be the last.
“Something clearly isn’t working and one of the first things we can do is change the protocol.
“Look, it’s disappointing, the referees are just like players and coaches, but it is obvious La Penna was not up to this game.”
Juventus turn their attentions to the Champions League on Tuesday, when they go to Galatasaray for the first leg of their play-off tie, before Como visit Turin next Saturday.