Liverpool penalty 'scandal' slammed as Italian press take aim at 'incompetent' referee

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Arne Slot's team were handed the spot kick with merely two minutes to go after Alessandro Bastoni was penalised for tugging at Florian Wirtz's shirt.Multiple Italian publications have subsequently criticised the call made by referee Felix Zwayer, who checked the VAR monitor before reaching his verdict. Reds defender Andy Robertson told Amazon Prime following the match that whilst the "penalty did look soft," it's a foul "that's given anywhere else on the pitch."VAR had also earlier intervened in the first half after Liverpool were denied a goal.

Ibrahima Konate's header was disallowed after the ball had bounced off Hugo Ekitike's arm.Despite this, the pivotal decision to grant the penalty to Liverpool late in the contest has been condemned in Italy. Former AC Milan and England manager Fabio Capello blasted the call to award the Reds a penalty, branding it "scandalous."READ MORE: What Virgil van Dijk, Arne Slot and Co said about Mohamed Salah feud after Inter winREAD MORE: Liverpool get fresh Inter Milan penalty verdict after manager's 'injustice' claimSpeaking on Sky Sports following the fixture, 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."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."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. Zwayer lets play continue, and VAR steps in where it shouldn't."Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates after putting Liverpool 1-0 up against Inter Milan(Image: Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto)The publication also argued that Konate's chalked-off goal in the first half was rightly disallowed.