FIFA's decision to ban Azzurri star Marco Materazzi for provoking France's Zinedine Zidane during the World Cup final caused outrage in Italy Thursday.
FIFA's disciplinary committee banned the defender for two games - just one match less than Zidane, whose head-butt into Materazzi's chest earned him a red card eight minutes from the end of extra time.
Materazzi admitted insulting Zidane's sister before the incident took place.
"It's a scandalous ruling," said AC Milan captain and former Azzurri great Paolo Maldini.
"It is scandalous that a player should be banned for saying something.
"It is the first time that something like this has happened. It is just because Materazzi is Italian and they want to justify the gesture of a great champion who, however, did wrong".
Green party MP Angelo Bonelli described it as a "head-butt to Italian sport".
"Putting Materazzi's words on the same level as Zidane's violent, dangerous reaction is a terrible message to the public and, above all, to the young people of the world," he said.
Communist Refoundation MP Pietro Folena said the decision was an "incitement to violence".
The player's father, Giuseppe Materazzi, said it established a "dangerous precedent".
Bonelli's Green party colleague Paolo Cento also complained that FIFA had been disproportionately harsh on the Inter Milan stopper.
"No matter what Materazzi said to Zidane, the punishments given to the two players should have been very different," said Cento. "It seems to me that they are rather similar." Sergio Campana, the president of the Italian professional footballers' association, agreed.
"It would have been fairer to have given a five-match ban to Zidane and one game to Materazzi," he said, recalling that Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi was banned for four games for violent conduct at Germany 2006. Campana also pointed out that when Italy star Francesco Totti was banned for four matches at Euro 2004, the provocation of Denmark's Christian Poulsen was not taken into account.
Italian Soccer Federation Emergency Supremo Guido Rossi said the ruling would be "respected" by his organization. But he also stressed that the worldwide public had formed its opinion on the basis of the television images of Zidane's head-butt.
