Referee Maurizio Mariani made the right decision in not pointing the spot for Salernitana defender Riccardo Gagliolo’s challenge on Inter striker Edin Dzeko in the first half of yesterday’s 5-0 win according to Italian media.
This from today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, who argue that there was not enough contact to the coming together in the box to warrant awarding a penalty.
Inter cruised to a comfortable victory over newly-promoted Salernitana in the end, but the scoreline was still 0-0 when Dzeko appealed to Mariani for a penalty following a challenge by Gagliolo early in the first half.
There appear to be a possible trip, but Mariani immediately made clear that he did not feel there was enough in it to merit a spot kick, and VAR official Piero Giacomelli did not intervene.
The Corriere argue that the official was right not to give the penalty in this instance and gave his overall display a score of 6.5/10 in the player ratings from today’s print edition.
