Inter striker Lautaro Martinez could not hide his disappointment after the Nerazzurri were held to a controversial 2-2 draw against Monza in Serie A yesterday evening.
The Argentina international had put Inter 2-1 up at the U-Power Stadium, before Francesco Acerbi had a goal wrongly disallowed for a foul in the box, only for replays to show that the clash had involved two Monza players colliding, but VAR was unable to intervene as the referee had already blown for a foul.
In an interview with Italian television broadcaster DAZN after the match, and as reported by FCInterNews.it, Martinez criticised referee Juan Luca Sacchi’s decision to blow his whistle before the ball crossed the line, as well as the implementation of VAR.
“There is a lot of anger because after four or five years working with VAR, still making these mistakes means that things are not clear,” the 25-year-old said.
“We take our responsibility, we could have finished it off earlier, but these episodes change games and make you so angry.
“The referee didn’t say anything, we were all confused because he has to wait a bit. What they told us before the season is that the referee can wait at least three seconds for the play to end, in this case it was also a penalty so it’s even worse.”
Martinez made his first start for Inter since helping Argentina lift the 2022 World Cup in Qatar last month, and admitted that whilst he was going through a special period of his career, his focus was on Inter.
“It’s a beautiful time for me on a personal level because having won the World Cup after so long for Argentina is amazing, but as I said in the press conference I am concentrating on Inter. Today I go home very angry, we dropped important points.”
“We still believe in the Scudetto, of course, I believe in everything because there is so much still to play for. But we have to improve, because to win you have to make a difference in all aspects,” he concluded.
Martinez joined Inter from Racing Club in 2018 and has scored 83 goals in 204 appearances for the Nerazzurri.
