The first week of Serie A has already put to the test one of the guidelines that Daniele Orsato has insisted on the most since becoming the referee in Serie A and B. DAZN's BordoCam has highlighted some rather tense dialogues between Lautaro Martinez, defender Alessandro Bastoni and referee Livio Marinelli during Inter-Monza. The paradox is that it all started with referee Marinelli, who before the match had explained to the black and blue captain how he would like to manage the match.
In the tunnel, the referee explains to Lautaro that dialogue is possible, but sets a condition: to avoid three or four players going towards the referee at the same time. This is precisely one of the principles established by Orsato for the new season: strengthening the relationship between the referee and the captain and using the latter as a privileged interlocutor, reducing sieges and collective protests.
Dialogue between Bastoni, Lautaro and Marinelli during Inter-Monza
On the pitch, however, the mechanism stalls almost immediately. During a corner kick, Bastoni troubles goalkeeper Pizzignacco and Marinelli intervenes, drawing the attention of the Inter defender. Bastoni replies with obvious sarcasm: "Is it another championship? Is it another championship?" At this moment, Lautaro intervenes.
The black and blue captain, from afar, addresses the referee directly: "Calm down a bit". He then insists, claiming that Marinelli is overdoing it with everyone. The referee's response is blunt: "Think about playing". The clash continues until half-time, when Lautaro returns to the subject, complaining about the tone used by the referee: "I can't talk to you, you've been talking bad to me from the beginning".
Why does the scene contradict the line requested by Orsato?
The point is not that players are forbidden from talking to referees. Orsato said exactly the opposite: dialogue should exist and the captain should become the main point of reference for the referee. But this very cooperation should serve to reduce tension, not increase it.
In Inter-Monza, on the contrary, something very close to the scenario that the new refereeing chief would like to overcome happens: a player sarcastically contradicts the referee, the captain intervenes to tell him how to behave and the clash ends up shifting from the decisions made to the way the referee speaks to the players. Marinelli, meanwhile, does not issue cards and tries to stop the debate.
The first week has thus shown how thin the line is on which the new refereeing management must work: more dialogue cannot mean less authority. And perhaps this is precisely the most difficult balance that Orsato will ask his referees to find.
