Inter are unfortunate not to have received a penalty in the first half of their Champions League loss to Bayern Munich yesterday evening.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, who argue that a spot kick should have been awarded after Bayern striker handled the ball in the penalty area early on in the 2-0 group stage loss for the Nerazzurri.
Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella took a shot at goal from outside the area in the opening stages of Inter’s clash with Bayern yesterday, and the ball deflected off of Bayern forward Mane.
Replays showed that the 30-year-old had raised his arms and that the ball had deflected off of them.
After a lengthy VAR check, referee Ivan Kruzliak decided not to award a penalty, as he deemed that the Senegalese was acting purely on instinct to protect his face from the shot, which had been struck with some force by the Inter midfielder.
However, in the view of the Gazzetta, this was a very dubious decision by the Slovak referee was an extremely dubious one.
The newspaper argues that Mane had more than enough time to see the shot coming in, and the movement of his arms looked very much intentional and unnatural rather than being purely made on instinct.
Therefore, the Gazzetta deems, the Nerazzurri should have been awarded a penalty for the incident.
