The Italian press has not looked very kindly on referee Felix Zwayer or VAR Sören Storks after Inter’s 1-0 loss at home to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday night, as the Nerazzurri feel harshly treated after the lenient penalty given to Alessandro Bastoni in the 88th minute.
Inter fell to their second consecutive Champions League defeat on Tuesday night. They were beaten in injury time by Atletico Madrid two weeks ago, and were again beaten late due to a controversial penalty against Liverpool at the San Siro last night.
It was the weakest shirt pull from Inter stopper Bastoni on Liverpool’s Wirtz with only a few minutes left to play. Initially rejected, Liverpool were later awarded what is widely considered a very lenient penalty after a lengthy VAR review.
Inter’s Manuel Akanji has described the incident as “one of the mildest punishments I’ve ever seen”, while Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk struggled to keep his mask when he watched the replays on Italian television.
What the Italian newspapers said about Liverpool’s controversial penalty against Inter
La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote that VAR was “correct in dismissing Konate’s goal, but the decisive penalty awarded to the Reds was a big mistake.”
Corriere dello Sport went even further and criticized UEFA’s head of referee development, Roberto Rosetti, for continuing to give Champions League matches to referee Zwayer. They described it as “outrageous.”
“It is difficult to understand how Rosetti continues to rely on a referee who has at least one camera review per game in Europe. Unconscionable. And somehow the VAR, Storks, made it even worse.”
Corriere dello Sport admitted that Bastoni was naïve to grab Wirtz’s shirt in the penalty area, but claims that the naivety was overshadowed by the referee’s “incompetence.” They gave Zwayer a score of 4.5 out of 10.
However, Tuttosport gave referee Zwayer a score of 5 out of 10. They claim that the handball awarded to Hugo Ekitike before Ibrahima Konate’s cancelled goal should have been discovered with the naked eye, adding that it was VAR Storks who was to blame for the controversial late penalty.
