Spezia head coach and former Inter midfielder Thiago Motta feels that the Nerazzurri were lucky to finish the match against his side with eleven men yesterday evening.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after the match, the former Nerazzurri midfielder gave the view that Lautaro Martinez should have seen red for an altercation with Spezia defender Martin Erlic, while he also thanked Inter fans at the San Siro for warmly receiving him.
Motta returned to the San Siro as a coach, having spent an important part of his career at Inter where he won the European treble before moving to Paris Saint-Germain where he finished his playing career.
The Italian was not table to get a happy result on the pitch in spite of being glad to be greeted by the Nerazzurri faithful, though he felt that this was partly because they were unfortunate regarding the decision not to send Martinez off.
“I take this opportunity to thank the fans,” Motta stated. “On the pitch I was focused on the match, but I’ll never forget what we did here.”
“I don’t understand what the referee was thinking,” he said, noting that “[Martinez] went fifteen meters to hit my player.”
“I would like to call attention to it even if it is not something I normally do,” he went on. “It is a big moment for me, if we had been playing eleven against ten then maybe it would have ended differently.”
“I’m not angry, I’m disappointed and I’m sorry,” Motta continued. “I’m surprised because with the technology we have you can’t make such a decision. If you go and look at Lautaro’s reaction, we have to agree that it’s a red.”
