Sarri: ‘I wonder how seven officials didn’t see the penalty on Hysaj’

Maurizio Sarri was left infuriated by refereeing decisions during Lazio’s 1-0 loss to Torino at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening, claiming that his side should have had a ‘clear’ penalty on Elseid Hysaj, but also blamed the weather for his side’s performance. 

Lazio were pegged back by a 20-yard strike from Ivan Ilic after 43 minutes, which proved to be too powerful for Ivan Provedel to keep out, despite getting a hand to it. 

Ivan Juric’s Torino put in a resilient, disciplined display in the second half and were able to frustrate Lazio more and more as the game ticked on. 

However, Sarri remained adamant that his side should have had a penalty in the game and that poor refereeing decisions impacted his side negatively. 

“The refereeing had an impact,” Sarri said in his post-match press conference. 

“The penalty on Hysaj is clear, Torino’s goal comes from a throw-in metres inside the pitch. It influenced the game. I wonder how 7 people didn’t see these things. 

“The boys were good, there was a risk of being reduced to 9 or 10 men with these referees.

“But then we must evaluate ourselves. We chose this week to work hard and put our foot on the gas for the season finale. Instead, we were lacklustre.”

Speaking to the DAZN cameras after the game, Sarri suggested that another element might have had an impact on his team’s performance.

“The change in temperature over the last few days hindered us a bit,” he said.

“There are 8 games left to go. You can overturn the standings in 8 days, I told the boys during the week. It wasn’t easy before, it’s not impossible now. We don’t have to do too many calculations.”

Despite the result, there were some strong performers among the Lazio squad, particularly Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luis Alberto. 

When asked about his midfielders, Sarri replied: “It’s difficult to have another Milinkovic and another Luis Alberto. Otherwise you become Bayern Munich. It’s normal. Our level is not the top in Europe, but we are bringing it to the top in Italy.

Sarri also weighed in on the situation surrounding his former club Juventus, given that they now have an opportunity to leapfrog Lazio into second place in the Serie A standings. 

He said: “From a legal point of view, I don’t have the knowledge to be able to give an opinion. From a sporting point of view, the championship is distorted.

“For months there was a ranking, now it’s different and could reciprocate. I hope someone in sports justice has the good taste to resign.”