Simone Inzaghi highlighted the fact that UEFA appointed a French referee to officiate the Champions League semi-final second leg between Inter and Milan, despite the opponents having a strong French contingent in their squad, but insisted that there is ‘absolutely no problem’ about it in his mind.
Clement Turpin will be the man with the whistle at San Siro on Tuesday evening, assisted by Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages and Stephanie Frappart, with a VAR team consisting of Jerome Brisard and Benoit Millot.
As well as officiating in the final of last year’s Champions League, Turpin was also the referee for Milan’s Round of 16 second leg tie against Tottenham in North London.
Asked whether he had any issues with the designation of officials, Inzaghi replied: “I have many friends and acquaintances in football who contacted me when they saw the designation of a French referee with the 4 French players in the Milan side, but there’s no problem. I have the utmost confidence.”
There were, however, some complaints about the standard of refereeing in the tournament so far, particularly in the first leg against Milan last Wednesday.
“I hardly talk about the referees even if sometimes I can’t help myself,” Inzaghi added. “In the first leg there was an incident that needed to be dealt with differently.
“I’m talking about Krunic’s foul on Bastoni, which would have given a different and very important result. This was not the case.”