An unemployed man from Florence has received death threats after his namesake, Serie A referee Gianluca Rocchi, made a series of blunders during Saturday night’s Inter-Napoli clash.

Napoli won 3-0 after Rocchi, who is also from the Florence region, sent off Inter’s Joel Obi and awarded a penalty for a foul that actually happened outside the box. Playing with 10 men, Inter went onto to lose the match 3-0 and after the game, players, officials and fans all expressed their ire towards the referee.

But now a 44-year-old from Limite sull’Arno, just outside Florence, has received threatening phone calls.

“It’s not the first time it’s happened and that’s also why I follow the Florentine referee’s performances to see if I need to expect some telephone threats,” the unemployed Rocchi told local newspaper Il Tirreno.

“I always hope that he referees well. But in any case, it’s never nice to hear someone tell you on the telephone they’re going to kill you.”

The referee Rocchi made a couple of mistakes in the game, notably the first booking he handed to Obi for what television replays showed was a perfectly good tackle on Ezequiel Lavezzi.

There could be no arguments, however, for the second booking for a deliberate push on Christian Maggio, who had got beyond him and was running in on goal.

Inter’s coach Claudio Ranieri was sent-off by Rocchi at half-time after angrily challenging the referee as he left the field, for which the former Chelsea and Juventus coach has received a one-game ban.