Liverpool win over Inter Milan 'poisoned' as Italian media gives verdict on controversy
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The Italian media is far from happy with the penalty that saw Liverpool beat Inter Milan in the Champions League - but Cristian Chivu’s side doesn’t escape some blunt criticism for its disappointing performance. There was plenty of controversy around the awarding of the penalty though, with referee Felix Zwayer sent to the screen by VAR after Alessandro Bastoni had pulled Florian Wirtz’s shirt, with the German making the most of the defender’s intervention.
Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates after scoring Liverpool's penalty against Inter Milan (Image: Getty Images) “The penalty kindly awarded to Szoboszlai poisoned the super Champions League tie and changed the outlook, as well as the result, but in the end, once again, Chivu's Nerazzurri ended a big match with nothing. “The winner was a superb penalty two minutes from time, in which Bastoni (also involved in Atletico's 2-1 win) was naive in yanking Wirtz's shirt, which served no purpose.
“Thus, the Nerazzurri's chances of getting closer to the round of 16 vanished from under their feet, stuck on 12 points: now, against Arsenal and Dortmund at the end of January, they need at least a win to qualify for the G8 and avoid the playoffs in February.” Alessandro Bastoni has been slammed by the Italian media after he gave away the late penalty against Inter Milan (Image: Getty Images) Meanwhile, Calciomercato slammed Bastoni for his involvement in the decisive moment, writing: “Another beating. But it's equally true that Bastoni was careless (in the sense of naive), just as his holding seemed careless.” Liverpool’s win takes it level with Inter on 12 points after six games, as well as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, although with the race for the top eight remaining tight, the Reds still have plenty of work to do in their remaining games against Marseille and Qarabag if they’re to qualify directly for the last-16.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.