Italian World Cup referee Nicola Rizzoli was involved in an extraordinary incident when he awarded a penalty and then changed his mind after five minutes of angry protests during AS Roma's 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Sunday.

Rizzoli initially awarded Sassuolo a penalty when their forward Nicola Sansone went down under a seemingly innocuous challenge by Roma defender Mehdi Benatia in the 36th ­minute of the Serie A match.

Both teams protested the decision, with Roma angry over the penalty and Sassuolo claiming that Benatia should have been sent off.

Sassuolo had already put the ball on the spot and were preparing to take the kick when Rizzoli, after consulting his assistants, changed his mind and awarded a drop ball.

Serie A uses the additional assistant referees system preferred by UEFA with extra match officials beside each goal.