Cagliari coach Walter Mazzarri says a change of referee affected his players for their 1-1 draw with Empoli.

Federico Dionisi picked up a calf injury and limped off to be replaced by fourth official Valerio Marini.

“The stop in play due to the referee's injury interrupted a good period for us," Mazzarri told DAZN.

“We also had an injury that messed up our plans, so we are frankly fortunate the first half ended only 1-0. We dominated the second half and unfortunately I had already lost one slot for the substitutions."