Former Serie A referee Luca Marelli believes that Inter were hard done by in their Serie A match with Juventus at the San Siro when the Bianconeri were awarded a late penalty to equalize.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after the match, the former official gave the view that the incident was not a clear and obvious error in which there was reason for VAR to intervene.

Inter wing-back Denzel Dumfries made contact with the leg of Juventus left-back Alex Sandro with a clumsy challenge, and the referee initially waved play on.

However, moments later he was advised by the VAR to have another look at the challenge on the screen, and he gave a penalty which ultimately gave the Bianconeri the chance to equalize in a match which saw the teams share the points.

Marelli believes that the incident was not a clear penalty and that one should not have been awarded by VAR even though there was clear contact between the players involved.

“The contact is there and it cannot be denied,” he stated, “but there will certainly be discussions. Mariani is in perfect view of the situation, as also demonstrated by his facial expressions, and judges the contact is not serious.”

He went on that ” It’s clear and obvious error, so it’s a slow motion episode, not a VAR one. I think these are not penalties that should be awarded, we need to find a way to reduce them.”