Milan were adamant that they should have had a penalty in the final exchanges of their 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday night, but club legend Alessandro Costacurta did not fully agree with all of the supporters of his former club. ‘There was contact, but that doesn’t mean it’s a penalty,’ he said.
Milan call for last minute penalty against Leverkusen
Milan lost for the second round in a row in the Champions League, falling 1-0 down to Leverkusen, but there was an encouraging second half performance from Paulo Fonseca’s side, who had been desperate to get themselves back into the tie before full-time.
There were loud calls for a Rossoneri penalty right before the referee blew for time, as Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit the floor right on the edge of the penalty area after apparent contact from Leverkusen centre-back Piero Hincapié.
Milan players and coach Fonseca felt that the Englishman might have had his heel clipped, but the contact took place right on the edge of the area. Either way, the referee did not blow and VAR decided not to intervene.
Though the players were furious on the pitch at the time – Fikayo Tomori came away with a booking for dissent as a result – Costacurta feels the referee made the right call, although he admits that he has seen them given.
“You can understand the intensity of the clash,” Costacurta said live on Sky Sport on Tuesday night, reported via Milannews.it.
“You can see he touches him. The referee was nearby, there was contact, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a penalty. They gave a penalty like that in the Dortmund match, though, it could have happened.”
Clutching at straws. Talking about meaningless incidents is designed to take away attention from the reality. Milan deserved nothing. They were lucky that Leverkusen didn’t have their shooting boots on.