Henrikh Mkhitaryan insists Roma ‘were the better team today’ after the 1-0 defeat to Juventus. ‘Why can’t the referee wait until the move is finished and then blow the whistle?’
This was the fourth consecutive Serie A victory for the Old Lady, decided by Moise Kean redirecting a Rodrigo Bentancur header from point-blank range.
Serie A | Juventus 1-0 Roma: Kean, chaos and spot-kick decisive
Wojciech Szczesny parried Jordan Veretout’s penalty, ending the Roma midfielder’s 100 per cent record from the spot.
There was controversy around that incident, as Daniele Orsato whistled before Tammy Abraham put the ball in the net, but arguably Mkhitaryan’s handball would’ve brought play back to that Szczesny foul anyway.
“Why could they not wait until the move had finished and then blow the whistle?” Mkhitaryan told DAZN.
“With offside, they always wait even five or eight seconds, so why not the same with a penalty? Everyone saw what happened, so I can’t say more than that.
“Naturally, we are frustrated. We were the better team today, we created many scoring opportunities, we could’ve done more to finish them, but we are improving and know we can win if we keep playing like that.”
The Giallorossi momentum seemed to dissipate after a one-two blow of incidents, the Kean goal and losing Nicolò Zaniolo to a knee injury.
“We all know he’s a very important player for us. He was worried, we saw him a bit shaken, we’ll see over the next few days, but hope it’s nothing serious. He really helps the team with his presence,” concluded the Armenia international.