Dirty TackleVincenzo Montella bet referee a dinner that he got sending off in Fiorentina-Milan match wrong
Despite going a man down in the first half, Fiorentina came back from a 2-0 deficit to Milan to take a point with the help of two second-half penalties. The 38th-minute red card for Nenad Tomovic was a controversial one, though since replays showed that the elbow that downed Stephan El Shaarawy was both glancing and inadvertent.
After the match, Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella revealed a halftime wager he made with the referee based on the incident. From Football Italia:
“I do not talk about referees. I will only say that at half-time I spoke to Tagliavento and we made a bet that whoever was wrong about the Tomovic incident would buy the other dinner. He was convinced that he was right, but I think I won the bet."
You might think that the increased focus on match fixing and betting by participants would dissuade such a halftime wager (especially in the land of Calciopoli), even if it is after the fact, but it looks like dinner is on the ref. And a precedent will be set that could prove costly to his fellow officials.
