Italian press fume at 'scandalous' Liverpool penalty from 'incompetent' referee

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Arne Slot's side were awarded the spot kick with just two minutes remaining after Alessandro Bastoni was penalised for pulling at Florian Wirtz's shirt.Several Italian outlets have since slammed the call made by referee Felix Zwayer, who consulted the VAR monitor before making his decision. Reds defender Andy Robertson told Amazon Prime after the game that while the "penalty did look soft," it's a foul "that's given anywhere else on the pitch."READ MORE: 'I apologise I've upset you' – Jamie Carragher tells Mohamed Salah what he must do nextREAD MORE: What Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Arne Slot said about Mohamed Salah 'apology' in MilanVAR had also previously intervened in the first half after Liverpool were denied a goal.

Ibrahima Konate's header was ruled out after the ball had deflected off Hugo Ekitike's arm.Nevertheless, the crucial decision to award the penalty to Liverpool late in the game has been slammed in Italy. Former AC Milan and England head coach Fabio Capello blasted the call to award the Reds a penalty, calling it ‘"scandalous."When speaking on Sky Sport after the match, Capello said: "It is a scandalous penalty – I don’t understand why the VAR had to intervene when the referee saw it all, the obvious simulation of throwing himself to the ground,"Referring to the lengthy VAR check that disallowed Konate's first half goal, Capello added: "I don’t understand VAR tonight at all, it took three minutes to disallow a clear handball goal."Wirtz went down under pressure (Image: Amazon Prime)On Liverpool's winning penalty, he said: “They called the referee for a shirt tug that means we’d have a million penalties per game.

They wrote: "Bastoni's naivety is perhaps matched only by the referee's and VAR's incompetence.Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates after putting Liverpool 1-0 up against Inter Milan(Image: Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto)"The shirt-snatching on Wirtz is laughable, and it wears off before the German player's tantrum, as he falls to the ground as soon as he feels his shirt is being dropped. Bastoni held onto Wirtz's shirt, a gesture that wasn't repeated or overwhelming.