Claudio Rainieri’s coaching is coming for some heated criticism. Today’s dispiriting loss to Brescia which reduced Julio Sergio to tears will only give more ammunition to his critics. Perparim Hetemaj gave Brescia the lead and worse was to follow as Phillipe Mexes brought down Eder.
The replay shows Mexes’s foul took place away from the box but the referee awarded the PK and ejected the French defender. Things got ugly as Mexes went after the linesman and had to restrained by a half a dozen off his team mates. Andrea Caracciolo successfully converted his spot kick to put Brescia two up.
Marco Borriello was the victim of a number of egregious fouls that were not given. The first one following a corner when he was mugged by Gilberto Martinez and in the the second one Martinez and Francesco Bega sandwich him and push down the Roma striker after he receives a cross. Watch this extended video >>
With Roma pushing hard to equalize Hetemaj handballs Marco Cassetti’s shot in the penalty area but the call is not given. Borriello does get one back but it is too late. In actuality, Roma was hard done by referee Carmine Russo and his crew.
The loss officially puts Roma in the relegation zone sharing the last three spots with Palermo and Udinese.