Chivu: ‘Referee saw Liverpool penalty, Inter damaged by 2 injuries’

Cristian Chivu implies Florian Wirtz dived to win the Liverpool penalty, but feels Inter were more damaged by two first half injuries. ‘A draw was the right result, but we end up empty-handed.’

The Nerazzurri were fuming at the final whistle of this painful 1-0 home defeat, as VAR intervened to award a late penalty for the tiniest of Alessandro Bastoni shirt tugs on Florian Wirtz, who made a feast more than a mere meal of it to flail to the ground.

VAR had been the hero earlier when disallowing a Liverpool goal for Hugo Ekitike’s handling offence, but this was the kind of intervention that sets a dangerous precedent in the Champions League.

“A draw was the right result considering how the game was going,” Chivu told Sky Sport Italia.

“We didn’t have enough energy in the first half and struggled with their intensity, but then we found the right key to create problems for them. That was after being forced into making two substitutions, which meant in the second half we couldn’t make more changes and were running short on energy.”

Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi both limped off in the opening half-hour, meaning Chivu waited until the final minutes to risk making his remaining three substitutions, as there was only one slot left.

What it ultimately means is that Inter have lost their last two Champions League matches by conceding late goals, to Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, and are now sliding down the table.

“That incident happened at the end of the game, it’s the second in the last two Champions League games, and we end up empty-handed again. However, we fought hard, tried to give our best, figured out how to break their press, and we pushed to the very end,” added Chivu.

“We should’ve been sharper with some of our choices in the final third, but ultimately we were affected by those two forced changes.”

The penalty incident had to be discussed, even though Chivu generally dislikes talking about referees, as Wirtz only went down flailing his arms after Bastoni had let go of his shirt.

“I rarely comment on refereeing decisions. I talk about education and what we ought to be teaching people, especially in the Champions League. The referee was in an excellent position to view the whole incident, and he decided it did not warrant a penalty.

“When VAR intervenes, it has to understand the dynamics of the game. We must accept the decisions and learn to combat against injustice, be more wary of these things, and try to focus on the good things that we can do.”

Liverpool had been struggling in recent weeks, but after leaving Mo Salah at home following controversial comments and losing Cody Gakpo, they reshuffled some of their tactics too.

“We expected their intensity and high press, we could’ve done better, but started a bit too timid. We slowly took control, as Gravenberch kept leaving room. We had started to find those passing channels during the final 20 minutes of the first half, but once the energy levels dropped, we sat a bit too deep,” concluded Chivu.

Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino also saw the footage on Sky Sport Italia and called the penalty “non-existent.”

To this, Chivu only smiled and said: “No comment.”