Inter Milan's Marco Materazzi was let off with a warning for wearing a mask of Italian Premier and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi after Sunday's city derby, the Italian Soccer League said on Tuesday.
Serie A leaders Inter beat second-placed Milan 2-0 despite being reduced to nine men, prompting non-playing substitute Materazzi to don the rubber mask and charge on to the field in celebration.
The League's sporting judge gave Inter's Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder a two-game ban for his 27th-minute red card for giving the referee sarcastic applause. Defender Lucio got a one-match ban for his stoppage-time sending-off for handball.
Earlier on Monday, Materazzi had hoped that Berlusconi saw the funny side of him wearing a mask of the AC Milan owner at the end of the city derby.
"As always, whatever Materazzi does gets discussed. Even a carnival mask, which is sold everywhere. There was no intent to cause controversy, no wish to offend, no political implication," the 36-year-old told his website (www.marcomaterazzi.it) on Monday.
"I'm sure that Berlusconi, as president of Milan and above all as a person with great self-irony..., will have smiled seeing me."
Italian Materazzi, headbutted by France's Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final, could face a sanction from the league on Tuesday when disciplinary measures from the weekend games are announced.
The centre back has barely figured in the last two years under Inter coach Jose Mourinho but continues to stay in the limelight, saying recently he would go on a motorhome trip around America in June rather than watch this year's World Cup.
© 2024 Rediff.com -