Juventus director Pavel Nedved has claimed that Roma should consider stripping Francesco Totti of his captain's armband because of comments he made after Sunday's controversial Serie A clash in Turin.
Totti lashed out at the referee at the end of his side's 3-2 loss to the reigning Italian champions, having been incensed by Gianluca Rocchi's decision to award the home side two contentious penalties, as well as the official's failure to spot that Arturo Vidal had been standing in an offside position in front of Giallorossi goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski when Leonardo Bonucci volleyed home his 86th-minute winner.Totti went as far as to say that Roma already know that they will finish second again this season because they feel that Juve will always benefit from favourable refereeing decisions - but Nedved has now hit back, arguing that, if anything, his old club are continually the victims of poor officiating.
"Although Francesco is a friend, a truly great champion, and the end of the game I hailed him, I was angry with him when I heard what he said in front of cameras," he told Italia 1.
"Totti has never got to play in a team as big as Juventus and, for this reason, he does not understand what it means to work for such an important club.
"If you play or work for Juventus, everyone is against you. We only have our fans behind us, while we find public opinion against us.
"And I'd even go as far as to say that this also affects the attitude of the referees, who are almost afraid to give anything in our favour.
"Roma have built a wonderful team and Totti, again, I congratulate him - but for what he does on the field - not for what he says off it.
"If you were in my team and you said after just the sixth round 'We'll finish second' and you are the captain, I don't know if you'd get to keep that armband.
"They're speaking of a distorted league, but we also need to look at the impression we have given of our league abroad: Sunday was a beautiful game, a real battle in which everything happened.
"Italian football is growing in Europe, as evidenced by what we are doing in the cups - this is what is important, not the controversy."
The fallout from Sunday's game shows no sign of abating, with Roma coach Rudi Garcia - who was dismissed for disputing Juve's second spot-kick - having been fined €5,000 for his own controversial post-match comments, with the Frenchman having sarcastically stated that he did not realise that the penalty area was so big in Turin.
Giallorossi defender Kostas Manolas has also received a two-game suspension for the red card he received for clashing with Bianconeri striker Alvaro Morata, who has received a one-game ban for his dismissal.
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