Liverpool agreement reached over ‘scandalous’ decision as Reds get lucky | Football | Sport
Liverpool narrowly defeated Inter Milan courtesy of Dominik Szoboszlai’s late penalty on Tuesday evening, but the pivotal VAR decision has sparked fierce backlash. The choice to award the Reds a spot-kick has been branded ‘scandalous’ following their three-point haul. Florian Wirtz tumbled theatrically after Alessandro Bastoni pulled his shirt inside the area.
Whilst there was little dispute over the Italian’s contact, the Germany international’s response generated far more controversy. The match initially carried on, but VAR intervened to bring the referee back to review the incident on the pitchside monitor. Following discussions with both captains, the official signalled for a penalty and Szoboszlai delivered the decisive goal.
Former England manager Fabio Capello was appalled by the events and suggested that Wirtz was guilty of ‘obvious simulation’.
“It’s a scandalous penalty,” he stated, according to Football Italia. “I don’t understand why the VAR had to intervene when the referee saw it all, the obvious simulation throwing himself to the ground.”
Capello was backed up by former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, who said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “It is such a soft penalty. Did they deserve to get that penalty? Probably not, but the fans won’t care.”
Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was left furious and told Prime Video: “I don’t know how they came up with a penalty that never existed but this is football. We are not happy. If you give a penalty like this, then every contact in the box is a penalty.”
Former referee Mark Clattenberg was similarly taken aback by the call. “It was a shirt pull, however, that shirt pull…the player went down straight afterwards,” he commented.
“You know what, this is what is crazy about VAR. We all agree, as football people, that this is not a penalty and now he is going to end up giving this as a penalty because of the shirt pull and the slow motion replays.”
Even Liverpool defender Andy Robertson acknowledged it was ‘soft’, alhough he believed a foul would be awarded elsewhere on the pitch.
The Scotland international was also disappointed to see Ibrahima Konate’s effort disallowed for handball in the first half.
“Huge result,” he said after the full-time whistle. “We knew we were coming to a tough place, to a team that’s in a good moment. We had to show fight and dig in.
“The clean sheet was crucial and then we go and scored the goal. The handball for me, I think it took seven or eight minutes. If you do that, then you have to stick to the on-field decision. You have to stick to the decision.
“The penalty did look soft but that’s given anywhere else on the pitch. We all needed it.
“We know the results and performances aren’t good enough. It’s important this club is in the Champions League. It was a huge result for all of us.”
