Napoli were furious with referee Davide Massa after a 3-0 defeat against Inter on Sunday and Italian sports papers claim the Nerazzurri’s opening goal could have been disallowed for a Lautaro Martinez foul.
Walter Mazzarri didn’t speak to the media after Sunday’s home defeat to Inter with Napoli director Mauro Meluso replacing the Italian tactician in front of the cameras.
“Mazzarri preferred not to come here, because we want him to be on the bench and therefore wanted to avoid him making certain comments that could get him into trouble,” said Meluso.
The Partenopei were furious as they felt Hakan Calhanoglu’s opener should have been disallowed due to a Lautaro Martinez foul on Stanis Lobotka in the build-up. Moreover, the hosts appealed for a penalty kick in the second half when Francesco Acerbi clipped Victor Osimhen’s heel.
Italian sports papers analysed Massa’s decisions on Monday and all agree the refereeing wasn’t entirely convincing.
Massa was rated 5.5/10 by La Gazzetta dello Sport and 5/10 by Il Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (page 2), there were ‘doubts’ about Inter’s opener as Lautaro had held Lobotka by his waist. However, Massa was close to the players and waved play on, while VAR couldn’t intervene as the referee had already assessed the incident on the pitch.
As per Il Corriere dello Sport (page 2), however, VAR should have urged Massa to the pitchside monitor to review Lautaro’s potential foul which was not judged correctly on the pitch. ‘It was a clear and obvious error’, claimed the Rome-based paper.
Gazzetta added that Napoli’s penalty appeals for a potential Acerbi foul on Osimhen were not legitimate as the Inter defender touch was not as strong as to justify a penalty kick.
However, Il Corriere dello Sport, argued that Acerbi also kept Osimhen off-balance with his hip and didn’t touch the ball, so a penalty kick could have been given to Napoli. ‘Shall we bet that, if Massa had given the penalty, VAR would not have intervened?’ Il Corriere dello Spor pundit Edmondo Pinna asked sarcastically.