Roma were upset by Spezia on the pitch in the Coppa Italia’s Round of 16 on Tuesday night, as they lost 2-4 after the extra time, but they would have forfeited the game anyway because they made too many substitutions, Sky Sport and Gazzetta dello Sport confirm.
Roma replaced four men during the regular 90 minutes. Then, after Gianluca Mancini and goalkeeper Paulo Lopez were both sent off early in extra time, Paulo Fonseca inserted back-up Daniel Fuzato and Roger Ibanez, taking out Bryan Cristante and Pedro. The coach commented after the game: “If there was indeed a mistake, we will discuss it internally.”
The confusion could have been caused by the fact going to extra time does generate a fourth slot for substitution, but does not add the possibility for an additional change on top of 5 already allowed. The International Football Association Board has opened to the possibility of making six changes in certain situations, but the modification has to be ratified by the Federation that organizes the competition and that was not the case for the Coppa Italia.
This is the second major technical blunder made by Roma in the season, as they forfeited the first match of the season versus Verona, which ended in a nil-nil tie, because they forgot to move Amadou Diawara, who turned 23 during the summer, from the Under to the Over section of the squad list that has to be submitted to the League before the start of the campaign, even though they had some open spots. The club’s general secretary Pantaleo Longo resigned shorty thereafter.