A last minute penalty converted by Nicola Amoruso won the three points for Reggina and Juve coach Ranieri snapped: "I do not comment on penalties given or not given to us or other teams. One needs to analyze the entire 90 minutes and what happened in them.

"With that in mind, we are all very bitter at this defeat. It wasn't the penalty incidents, it was the whole refereeing approach we didn't like."

Franco Brienza gave Reggina a first-half lead before Alessandro del Piero equalised 20 minutes from time, Ranieri continued: "It all comes together and the major incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. We played a great game and pinned Reggina back into their own half during the second half, but we lost and must leave it there.

"We can't talk after this game, we really can't. The three or four penalties have to be seen as part of the overall night. I will not stand here and give my view on whether it was a spot-kick or not.

"The lads are very upset, as they ran so hard and worked so much. We knew it was going to be tough this year and we just have to keep going through it all.

"We managed to equalise and always play to win, but we didn't manage it and lost, so we cannot say anything more."

Ranieri also explained why injuries had forced a change of tactics, as David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta were ruled out.

"We didn't have Trezeguet or Iaquinta, so I asked to play ball to feet rather than cross into the box. We were certainly missing that figure in the team, but Ale Del Piero and Raffaele Palladino tried to follow my instructions even against a Reggina side clammed up in their own half."