Referee Marco Guida Wrong to Book Lazio’s Pepe Reina in Draw vs Atalanta

The decision to give Lazio goalkeeper Pepe Reina a yellow card near the end of the 2-2 draw against Atalanta was a mistake.

As reported by Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport (via LazioNews24) earlier today, referee Marco Guida did a decent job in officiating the tense match yesterday at the Gewiss stadium, blowing the whistle for 26 fouls and assigning four yellow cards in total.

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Guida was given a 6.5 rating for his performance in the draw between Lazio and Atalanta, although he did make one noticeable error.

The 40-year-old Italian referee was wrong to book Spanish veteran Reina in the dying minutes of the match for ‘time wasting’.

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What had happened was that Reina was picking up a roll of black adhesive tape from the ground and after being booked, he was hit on the back of the head by a coin.

It is clear that Reina was not time-wasting in the incident and was instead trying to clear his play area before taking the goal kick.