Daniele Doveri will be the referee for Inter vs. Napoli, the highlight of Serie A's 20th matchday, scheduled for Sunday, January 11th at 8:45 PM at San Siro. His appointment for the Meazza match will not go unnoticed: he's an experienced referee, but he's also a name that has been the subject of more than one discussion recently for controversial incidents.
In the other key matches of the round, Fiorentina-Milan has been assigned to Massa, while Juventus-Cremonese will be refereed by Feliciani.
Duties: Precedents and controversies with Napoli and Inter
Doveri has faced Napoli 41 times in his career (22 wins, 12 draws, 7 losses) and Inter 38 times (16 wins, 12 draws, 10 losses). He has refereed five Napoli-Inter meetings, with one win each and three draws, and awarded one penalty each in all previous meetings.
The hot spot for the Azzurri remains Napoli-Inter on March 1, 2025 (which ended 1-1), a match that left a lasting impression: Napoli protested for Dumfries's handball in the Inter penalty area following a shot by McTominay, which was not awarded a penalty. In the same match, Inter also complained about contact in the Napoli penalty area (McTominay and Dumfries), which Simone Inzaghi deemed to be a penalty, but was not awarded.
Regarding the specific "precedents" cited in recent days: the first Napoli-Inter match overseen by Doveri was listed as May 2019 (Napoli won 4-1) and another in January 2020 (Inter won 1-3). Furthermore, the three subsequent meetings (at the Maradona stadium) all ended 1-1, fueling a series of incidents and discussions that today makes the selection particularly sensitive.
These are the referee appointments for the 20th matchday of Serie A football.
Como-Bologna (Saturday 10/01, 15.00 pm): Abisso di Palermo (Berti-Scarpa/IV: Di Marco; var: Mazzoleni, avar: Marini).
Udinese-Pisa (Saturday 10/01, 15.00 pm): Ayroldi from Molfetta (M.Rossi-Zezza/IV: Bonacina; var: Camplone, avar: Fabbri).
Roma-Sassuolo (Saturday 10/01, 18.00): Marcenaro from Genoa (Mondin-Monaco/IV: Marchetti; VAR: Maggioni, VAR: Di Bello).
Atalanta-Torino (Saturday 10/01, 20.45pm): Fourneau of Roma 1 (Bahri-Ceolin/IV: Galipò; VAR: Di Paolo, AVR: Mariani).
Lecce-Parma (Sunday 11/01, 12.30 pm): Marinelli from Tivoli (Bindoni-Tegoni/IV: Zufferli; var: Marini, avar: Mariani).
Fiorentina-Milan (Sunday 11/01, 15.00 pm): Massa di Imperia (Meli-Costanzo/IV: Rapuano; VAR: Maresca, AVR: Chiffi).
Verona-Lazio (Sunday 11/01, 18.00 pm): Guide of Torre Annunziata (Mastrodonato-Bianchini/IV: Arena; var: Meraviglia, avar: Fabbri).
Inter-Napoli (Sunday 11/01, 20.45pm): Roma 1 Duties (Alassio-Colarossi/IV: Colombo; VAR: Di Bello, AVR: Di Paolo).
Genoa-Cagliari (Monday 12/01, 18.30 pm): La Penna di Roma 1 (Laudato-Ceccon/IV: Sacchi; var: Nasca, avar: Maresca).
Juventus-Cremonese (Monday 12/01, 20.45pm): Feliciani from Teramo (L.Rossi-Barone/IV: Calzavara; VAR: Gariglio, AVR: Chiffi).
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
The article mentions Doveri as a key referee for the Inter-Napoli match, but there's been a lot of controversy in the past. It would be interesting to see if this will affect his performance on the pitch. I hope he's a good referee.