Former Lazio, AC Milan, and West Ham United striker Paolo Di Canio believes that the decision to have Federico Dimarco take Inter’s late penalty in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Atalanta was a strange one.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, the 53-year-old gave the view that Dimarco should not have been the one entrusted to step up and take the spot kick ahead of more experienced players in the squad.

Inter were awarded a penalty late on in their match with La Dea for a Merih Demiral handball in the area, and it was Dimarco who stepped up to take it to potentially give the Nerazzurri a lead.

However, the 23-year-old struck the crossbar with his effort and the Nerazzurri took only a point from the match in the end.

Dimarco was praised for his courage to take the spot kick rather than criticized following the incident, but for Di Canio the loan returnee and academy product should never have been the one to be given the responsibility to begin with.

He stated that it was “A decision that I did not understand, it has no precedent, it is absurd that in at that moment there was no Inter player who was a candidate to take it ahead of him.”

“It seemed strange to me that this could happen,” he said, “a player like Dzeko who is having his best start to a season in my opinion he should have taken it. Dimarco is good, but I it seemed strange right from the start. Scoring them in training is another matter.”