How Italian papers reacted to Liverpool’s soft penalty against Inter

The Italian press has not looked too kindly on referee Felix Zwayer or VAR Sören Storks after Inter’s 1-0 loss at home against Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, as the Nerazzurri are left feeling hard done by after the soft penalty given against Alessandro Bastoni in the 88th minute. 

Inter slipped to their second consecutive Champions League on Tuesday night. They were beaten in stoppage time by Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago, and were again beaten late on due to a controversial penalty decision against Liverpool in San Siro last night. 

There was the slightest of shirt pulls from Inter centre-back Bastoni on Liverpool’s Wirtz with just a few minutes left to play. Initially waved away, Liverpool were later awarded what is widely considered a very soft penalty after a lengthy VAR review. 

Inter’s Manuel Akanji has described the incident as ‘one of the softest penalties I’ve ever seen’, while Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk struggled to keep a straight face when watching the replays on Italian TV. 

La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote that VAR was “correct to rule out Konate’s goal, but the decisive penalty awarded to the Reds was a big mistake.”

Corriere dello Sport went even further, criticising UEFA’s chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti for continuing to give Champions League matches to referee Zwayer. They described it as ‘scandalous’. 

“It’s difficult to understand how Rosetti continues to trust a referee who has at least one on-field review per game in Europe. Scandalous. And somehow, the VAR, Storks, did even worse.” 

Corriere dello Sport admitted that Bastoni was naive to grab Wirtz’s shirt in the penalty area, but argues that the naivety was overshadowed by the refereeing ‘incompetence’. They gave Zwayer a rating of 4.5/10. 

Tuttosport, meanwhile, gave referee Zwayer a rating of 5/10. They claim that the handball awarded against Hugo Ekitike prior to Ibrahima Konate’s disallowed goal should have been spotted with the naked eye, and add that it was VAR Storks at fault for the controversial late penalty.