Kumbulla kicks Berardi: red card and penalty for Sassuolo. Here's what happened in Rome

Kumbulla kicks Berardi: red card and penalty for Sassuolo.  Here's what happened in Rome


At the end of the first half of Roma-Sassuolo an episode that recalled the expulsion of the Juventus player Kean against the Giallorossi. The protagonist in the negative, this time, the Roma defender Kumbulla. Referee Fabbri reviewed the incident on the monitor and decided to show the Albanian player the red light and award a penalty to the neroverdi which was then converted by Berardi (the momentary 3-1 goal). But let's rewind the tape and analyze the action.

Kumbulla and Berardi, what happened

A through ball arrives in the Roma penalty area on which Kumbulla and Berardi pounce. The defender uses his body to ensure that the ball lands comfortably in the arms of goalkeeper Rui Patricio: mission accomplished. An instant later, however, the Roma player falls on top of his opponent, who had tried a stunt from the ground. An apparently normal fall, but Kumbulla gets up and kicks Berardi. Tempers flare and a fight comes close. At that point Fabbri, recalled by Var Pairetto, runs to the monitor and makes the inevitable decision: red to Kumbulla and penalty kick.

Berardi's blow: that's why Kumbulla was furious

However, Roma protested in a decisive way because they would have wanted the same treatment for Berardi. As can be clearly seen from the images, before Kumbulla's kick to the opponent, Berardi's left leg can be seen which, from the ground, approaches the Roma player's groin area until it hits it. Twice, even if the referee team evidently judged the gesture not relevant. But it was primarily this movement, believed by Kumbulla to be voluntary, that triggered his meaningless reaction. And it pushed Roma, already in press blackout for the two-match disqualification confirmed for Mourinho, to open a new front for discussion with the refereeing class.



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