The referee who controversially refused to award Inter a penalty against Juventus in 1998 has one regret – not awarding the Bianconeri a free kick.
It is 20 years ago to the month that Inter met Juve in a Scudetto showdown, during which Piero Ceccarini waved play on when Ronaldo went down under a Mark Iuliano challenge.
The Bianconeri were 1-0 up at the time thanks to Alessandro Del Piero’s goal, and though he later missed a penalty, they held on for a 1-0 win.
The Old Lady went on to lift the Serie A title that year, and Beneamata fans have long claimed that they would have taken the title if not for that decision.
“I take no pleasure from being solely and exclusively remembered for that incident,” Ceccarini told Premium Sport.
“Right then and there, it looked like a challenge from Ronaldo on Iuliano and not the other way round.
“Today, after a long time, I can confirm that what I saw on the pitch corresponds to reality if we’re talking about physical contact.
“I can also say that my mistake was not giving a free kick to Juventus because the fact of not having whistled made it look like I saw Iuliano’s foul and didn’t want to acknowledge it. Instead, I just saw the opposite.
“If it had been in basketball, it would’ve been a technical foul by Ronaldo. It also amazes me no-one remembers that live and during the replay of the incident, [Fulvio] Collovati and [ex-referee] Chiesa said during their commentary that it wasn’t a penalty.
“I was more amazed than anything at the particularly intense protests from Inter, but I’m especially sorry that I couldn’t explain my version of events straight after the game.
“It wasn’t possible because referees live in a castle surrounded by high walls. I had proposed to give a Press conference to talk about only the incident from a technical point of view, without causing any controversy or touching on any other issues, but my proposal wasn’t considered.
“In the days that followed, there was a deafening silence from my bosses and the FIGC, which hurt me.
“I’d like to put an end to it all, even if I don’t think I can. For me, the fact that incident made Inter lose the title is untrue.
“I assessed everything in a clean, crystalline and transparent way. The Inter fans can be assured of that. There was never any foul play.”
