At a press conference, Roberto De Zerbi returned to the comments made by Medhi Benatia after the Olympico. The Olympian coach came to his defense: “I am sorry that he finds himself at the heart of the controversies. He doesn’t need me to defend himself, he expressed himself in an educated manner. I don’t see anything wrong with that. If I’m here, it’s thanks to him and Longoria. I will always support him, I owe my arrival to him. These controversies have no reason to exist. »
“I think Medhi was not wrong with what he said”
De Zerbi does not usually comment on refereeing. He is also new to Ligue 1. The technician was, however, surprised by the expulsion of Leonardo Balerdi: “I don’t like to complain, you will only hear me complain very little. Honestly, I’ve never seen an expulsion like Cornelius’s, I’m 45 years old and I’ve been following football for 35 years. I have never seen this kind of card, just as I have never seen an expulsion for accumulation of yellows for the same player after 5 minutes. But I don’t want to be controversial. There may be refereeing errors, but I don’t think they are made in bad faith. »
The former Brighton manager refuses to blame Benoît Bastien: “I make mistakes too, I think that coaches make even more mistakes than referees… Afterwards, I think that Medhi was not wrong with what he said, and above all I don’t think that ‘he wanted to be disrespectful’he concluded.
Medhi Benatia perfectly played the role of sports director by placing himself as a shield for his coach and his president. Roberto De Zerbi can avoid some controversies by staying in the background.
