A year and a half the match between Benevento and Cagliari on 9 May 2021 (with the rossoblù who won 3-1 condemning the Samnite team to relegation) the controversy that followed the match ended in court .

Mario Mazzoleni , brother of the referee responsible for the var of that match, Paolo Mazzoleni , has in fact filed a complaint against Clemente Mastella , mayor of Benevento, for the fiery words pronounced by the latter after the defeat by the Campania team.

In fact, Mastella hypothesized a strategy aimed at penalizing southern teams and unclear relations between Massimo Cellino, former president of Cagliari, and - in fact - Mazzoleni's brother .

The Bergamo Public Prosecutor's Office opened a file following the libel lawsuit presented by Mario Mazzoleni and for this reason on 23 November Mastella will have to appear before the gup of the Lombard court who will have to decide on the indictment . The prosecutor had asked for the mayor to be archived, but Mazzoleni's lawyers opposed it.

"I was denounced - says Mastella today - because I tried to safeguard society and my city from the abuses of the football system. After 16 months I can guarantee that I would behave in the same way ".

As mentioned, the match ended 3-1 for the Sardinians, but Mastella disputed above all what happened at minute 86 of the match, when the referee on the field Doveri awarded a penalty to Benevento for Asamoah's foul on Viola, then revoked upon reporting by the Var Paolo Mazzoleni .

Interviewed on various newspapers, Mastella then spoke of "obvious error" and "damage caused to the Giallorossi club and image to the city of Benevento", and highlighted the clear desire, according to him, "to penalize Benevento", recalling that " Mazzoleni himself had made a similar mistake to the detriment of Napoli a few days earlier against Cagliari ", and foreshadowing" an attempt to disadvantage the southern teams ".