Genoa coach Alberto Gilardino showed remarkable calm and magnanimity when shown footage confirming the winning Inter penalty was a refereeing error. ‘Humans make mistakes.’
The Grifone were one of the only four teams who managed to take points off Inter this season in Serie A and indeed the last to avoid defeat with a 1-1 draw back in December.
They put up quite a fight at San Siro too, going down to the Kristjan Asllani strike and a very contentious Alexis Sanchez penalty, while the Johan Vasquez volley and an offside Vitinha goal were not enough.
It initially seemed as if the penalty was very harsh because Nicolò Barella had already taken the shot when Morten Frendrup made contact, but another camera angle shows that the Genoa player very clearly deflected the ball onto the side-netting, so it was a great block and certainly not a foul.
Despite being urged to view it again on the VAR monitor, referee Giovanni Ayroldi stood by his original decision.
It is also worth noting that the VAR footage shown to Ayroldi did not include the angle from behind the goal – where it is very clear that Frendrup got the ball.
“It didn’t look like a penalty on the field and now seeing the footage we have the certainty,” Gilardino told Sky Sport Italia.
“When the referee called over to the VAR, he has to evaluate it again, but he didn’t. Let’s just say it is very dubious, but I prefer to talk about the performance from my lads of great courage and quality.
“It’s disappointing, as incidents change games, but we had the right approach throughout against a strong team, my lads gave our all and I am pleased with the performance.”
In a weekend of extreme controversy and fury around refereeing decisions, Gilardino was asked how others can learn to be as generous as he was dealing with this situation.
“I think the referee and VAR need to communicate, but above all the referee should be very open to listening to the VAR. Seeing as VAR is available, the referees on the field need to stop even if it takes a few minutes to evaluate.
“After that, they are human beings, everyone can make mistakes, but the odds of a mistake ought to be reduced when you view the footage again, that is for sure.”
There was an extra error too from Ayroldi, because if he considered the Frendrup challenge to be such a bad foul, he was already on a yellow card and would’ve received a second.
- Raspadori Napoli‘s Juventus Killer, Roma‘s Dybala On Fire & More – Listen to the new episode of the Italian Football Podcast here.
Genoa had the better start and missed a sitter with Albert Gudmundsson on the rebound from a Yann Sommer save on Mateo Retegui before the Asllani goal.
“There are regrets, of course, and this penalty was a crucial moment in the match. Mind you, talking about my lads, we didn’t deal with certain incidents in the right way, but showed considerably more focus and concentration in the second half.”
Gilardino uses a 3-5-2 formation, just like Simone Inzaghi, but notes there are certain tweaks depending on the situation.
“This system is malleable, we can change the approach depending on the players used. With Messias or Gudmundsson as a mezz’ala, the wing-backs pushing down the flanks and recovering the ball quickly, that is a more attacking interpretation of the system.
“The intention is to create a high press, overlaps, play with courage and cause the opposition problems. I think that is what I saw in the second half.”
The Genoa coach was asked what makes Inter so far ahead of everyone else in Serie A this season.
“They are strong in possession, attack the space when passing to feet and all their strikers have different characteristics that can combine differently. They have attacking wing-backs, solid and very physical defenders, while their substitutes are of a high level too.
“This is a team with a strong identity, it was built intelligently, and the credit for that goes to Simone Inzaghi.”
L'Inter aveva abituato fin troppo bene, qualcuno pensava di fare un sol boccone di chiunque. Ma il Genoa ha fatto sudare maledettamente i nerazzurri, che pure hanno avuto tante occasioni malgrado una serata non brillantissima. PS Non c'è il rigore su Barella. Anzi Frendrup salva… pic.twitter.com/Zpn0qOo3VW
— Daniele Mari (@marifcinter) March 4, 2024
Another Rubinter game lol