Liverpool’s Champions League victory over Inter Milan was not without controversy.
The Reds played some of their best football of the season to secure a 1-0 win at the San Siro.
Their Champions League chances have improved slightly, and they are back in the mix to secure a top-eight finish.
How far will Liverpool go in the Champions League this season? 👀
Highest chances of winning the Champions League this season
- Arsenal: 21.74%
- Bayern Munich: 17.95%
- PSG: 13.24%
- Manchester City: 10.07%
- FC Barcelona: 6.85%
- Real Madrid: 5.04%
- Liverpool: 5.03%
Via Opta
The fixture nearly ended goalless, but VAR stepped in to hand Liverpool a goal, much to the dismay of the Italian media.
Fabio Capello furious with Liverpool penalty vs Inter Milan
Florian Wirtz replaced a struggling Alexander Isak midway through the second half and offered a lot more in the final third during his limited time on the pitch.
In the 85th minute, the German had his shirt tugged by an Inter Milan defender, going down quite easily.
After a VAR check, a penalty was awarded, and Szoboszlai converted to win the fixture.
As expected, the Italian press are not too happy with the decision.
Former England manager Fabio Capello covered the game for Sky Sports in his home country and, as per Passione Inter, said: “It’s a disgrace to award a penalty like this.”
Ex-Inter player Goran Pandev then added: “The referee decided it because Inter did not deserve to lose this match.”
Arne Slot on Ibrahima Konate’s disallowed goal
While an argument can be made that the penalty was soft, some may suggest that Ibrahima Konate’s goal in the first half should not have been ruled out for handball after what was a very lengthy VAR check.
How annoyed are you about Konate’s goal being disallowed? 😡
Slot shared his thoughts on both decisions in his post-match press conference.
When asked whether the incidents ruled themselves out, he said: “It shouldn’t be like that, of course. But I prefer to score in the 86th minute the 1-0 than in the 38th minute the 1-0.
“But it shouldn’t be like that. I think so many times this season referee decisions have gone against us, either in the Premier League or Champions League. I think this weekend I saw a handball at Brighton against West Ham in the lead-up to a goal and that was allowed. Probably people will tell me, ‘No, there was something different between it.’
“But there’s always something that’s different, like the goal we scored against [Manchester] City. So, yeah, another time where the players showed great mentality and this time we could win it instead of ending it with a draw.”
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