Chiellini sorry for Genoa protests

Juventus centre-back Giorgio Chiellini has apologised for criticising the referee after the controversial 1-1 draw against Genoa.

The Italy international had to serve a one-match suspension this weekend after he confronted the officials for their decision not to award his side a penalty, following a handball by Andreas Granqvist.

But reviewing the incident, Chiellini took the time to reflect on the situation and insisted he should have acted differently.

“Even if I could not play because of my injury, I sat out the one-match ban imposed after my reaction at the end of Juventus-Genoa,” he told the club’s official website.

“Now that the controversy about that match has gone, I would like to apologise publicly for the incident.

“Unfortunately, watching the game from the stands gave me more tension and after the end of the match I reacted too vehemently.

“We players should be the first who give a good example of how to behave on and off the field, so I wanted to apologise to all football and sports fans in general for my behaviour.”

The 28-year-old then expressed his delight at Juve’s 2-1 win at Chievo on Sunday, despite not being able to contribute.

He added: “Yesterday we won a very important match on a difficult pitch like Verona, which in recent years had always created problems for us.

Juve lead Serie A with a three-point advantage over second-placed Napoli.