Italy coach Daniele De Rossi "was in the wrong" to react to a poor challenge, in the 1-0 win over Bulgaria.
Antonio Conte said hero-turned-villain Daniele De Rossi was aware of his mistake in retaliating in Italy's 1-0 win over Bulgaria on Sunday.
While the victory took the Italians closer to sewing up their spot at the Euro 2016 finals in France, Conte said De Rossi's dismissal was due to an error in judgement from the Roma midfielder - as he kicked out at Bulgaria's Iliyan Mitsanski for a crude challenge, the pair both seeing red.
Conte - an eight-time Serie A winner as player and coach with Juventus - said goal scorer De Rossi, who netted an early penalty, should have known better than to retaliate.