“It’s daft!” – Jamie Carragher has little sympathy for Inter over ‘harsh’ penalty decision | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher had little sympathy for Inter Milan over the late penalty given against them in their defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday night, even though he felt it was a ‘harsh’ decision.

Felix Zwayer hadn’t initially spotted a tug by Alessandro Bastoni on Florian Wirtz’s shirt, but having been summoned to the pitchside VAR monitor, the referee overturned his original decision and pointed to the spot, with Dominik Szoboszlai duly dispatching the spot kick in the 88th minute.

Andy Robertson admitted that the penalty looked ‘soft’, but with the caveat that a foul would’ve been awarded had the incident happened ‘anywhere else on the pitch’.

What did Carragher say about penalty incident?

Carragher agreed with the Liverpool left-back’s assessment, but was also critical of Bastoni for grabbing Wirtz’s shirt when there was no danger for his team.

The former Reds defender said on CBS Sports Golazo: “I’d be very disappointed if this went against me or my team. What I’d say is, I don’t think that’s a penalty, but if I were an Inter Milan player or the manager, I’d say, ‘What are you doing grabbing his shirt and giving the referee a decision to make?’

“I don’t think it’s a penalty, but just don’t pull his shirt. It’s not like he’s pulling him back because he’s going through on goal. He [Wirtz] has got his back to goal; he’s going nowhere. He [Bastoni] only has himself to blame there, but I do think it was a bit harsh.

“[Manuel Akanji] said about his own player, ‘What are you doing grabbing his shirt in the box like that?’. It’s daft, isn’t it? It’s not like it’s a panic where someone’s going through on goal and you do something instinctively. I think it’s harsh, but he gave the referee an opportunity [to award the penalty].”

Image via Amazon Prime Video Sport

A fair assessment from Carragher

The penalty incident at San Siro had strong echoes of the one that Ibrahima Konate gave away in Liverpool’s 3-3 draw away to Leeds last weekend, with both being ignored by the referee initially before a VAR intervention saw the on-field official reverse his original decision.

Just as the Reds centre-back was impetuous in rushing in on Wilfried Gnonto when the Italian attacker was about to run the ball out of play, Bastoni was culpable of an inexplicable head loss by grabbing Wirtz’s shirt when the German playmaker was facing away from goal.

Neither incident fitted the category of a stonewall penalty, and the fall from our number 7 was somewhat melodramatic, but in both cases the gulity party was silly to concede the foul when there appeared to be no great danger.

What went against Liverpool at the weekend went in our favour last night, and we’ll definitely take such moments of good fortune in what’s been a hugely disappointing season so far, but on the balance of play the win at San Siro was fully deserved.

As Carragher said, Bastoni only has himself to blame for giving the officials an excuse to intervene.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Inter Milan press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: