Simone Inzaghi and Inter are ‘very angry’ that the referee blew the whistle too early on a non-existent foul during their 2-2 draw with Monza. ‘At 3-1 it would’ve been over, we were penalised.’
The Nerazzurri became the first Serie A side to beat leaders Napoli this season and blow the title race wide open, but threw it all away with a stalemate at the U-Power Stadium this evening.
Matteo Darmian saw his opener immediately cancelled out by Patrick Ciurria, then Lautaro Martinez caught Pablo Mari napping inside the penalty area to restore the advantage until a stoppage-time Luca Caldirola header with decisive deflection off Denzel Dumfries.
There was some controversy at 2-1 when Francesco Acerbi had the ball in the net, but the whistle had already gone for the slightest Roberto Gagliardini push.
However, the replays show that Pablo Mari tripped over his teammate Armando Izzo, so Gagliardini only had his hand resting on the defender’s back.
Had the referee waited until after the ball went in, it might’ve been open to VAR interpretation, but this way does not qualify as a disallowed goal.
“We are very angry, because clearly there was an error. After five years of VAR, a foul was given where two Monza players trip up on each other. Everyone knows to wait and see what happens,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
“Along with Lautaro hitting the post, we would’ve been 3-1 up, but are instead talking about a draw that comes from a serious mistake.”
Nonetheless, Inter lost intensity as the game wore on and sat further and further back, especially after the loss of Nicolò Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu, while Romelu Lukaku also made very little impact as a substitute.
“These are all very important players for us. Three days ago against Napoli, the substitutes made a big difference, but you don’t always get the response you wanted.
“You always expect more, but right now it’s difficult for me to analyse the game. At 3-1, we would’ve won. There is a lot of regret, as we knew Monza were well-organised, then we had problems with Calhanoglu and Barella that we hope is nothing too serious.”
Inter have not kept an away clean sheet this season in Serie A and the Ciurria goal in particular had some very poor defending.
“Clearly, it’s a fact that we concede far more goals away from home than at San Siro. We should’ve defended better, we were tripling up the marking and it left a gap, but again it wouldn’t have mattered without that error.
“We were coming off a good period of form, we beat Atalanta and Napoli, so this slows us down and we feel that we were penalised.”
Inzaghi was asked how this setback, the first Serie A draw for Inter in 24 rounds of only wins and losses, will affect their progress.
“Now we have to keep going, aware we’ve got to work better, recover all our players at 100 per cent and not forget we were coming off important wins against Atalanta and Napoli. Monza played well, but at 3-1 it would’ve been over.
“Unfortunately, we dropped points at the start of the season and must now try to recover by taking it one game at a time. It’s disappointing, because the points were within our reach tonight.”