Massa deemed the celebration of the Inter striker provocative. Hence the second yellow card and the red card.
The penalty in the 95th minute, Perin beaten, then that celebration that caused chaos and cost Romelu Lukaku a second yellow card and subsequent expulsion.
The scene is now part of the endless story of the Derby d’Italia. After scoring the penalty, the Inter striker turned towards the Juventus fans and made a military salute with his right hand and placed the index finger of his left hand in front of his mouth to request silence.
He had celebrated in this way before, with the Belgian national team, after scoring against Sweden. But at the Stadium, after the celebration, Lukaku’s lip-reading, directed at the Juventus fans, seemed unequivocal: “shut up, shut up!”.
But what does the rulebook say? The protocol updated on July 1, 2022, in Article 12 provides that: “A player must be cautioned, even if the goal is not awarded if: he approaches the spectators in such a way as to cause safety and/or health problems and/or climbs the fence, acts provocatively or derisively, covers his head or face with a mask or other similar object, takes off his shirt or covers his head with his shirt”.
A player’s celebration towards the opposing fans is usually considered provocative. Hence the decision of referee Massa to show Lukaku a second yellow card (the first had been given for the foul on Gatti) and subsequently send him off.
