ROME. Two penalties, many controversies, the anger, not to say fury, of Inter. Simone Inzaghi’s return to the Olympic stadium is bitter, where before the start of the match against Lazio the coach, who was moved, received from the Biancocelesti fans the welcome he deserved for his 22 years of militancy in Formello . But then everything happened on the pitch, and in particular in the final stages of the match, when Lazio overturned the situation and in the end won 3-1.
Inter, deprived of its South Americans who had arrived only a few hours earlier (but Lautaro and Correa were still on the bench, and in the final they also entered) had closed the first half ahead thanks to a penalty awarded for a clumsy intervention by Hysaj on Barella and transformed by Perisic. Lazio had equalized in the 19th minute of the second half with Immobile, also from the spot, after the ‘hands’ of Bastoni sanctioned by Irrati. But then Felipe Anderson’s goal nine minutes from the end, with Dimarco on the ground from the previous action (but Inter, with his player lying on the field, had continued towards Reina’s goal) triggered scenes from the far west because the Lazio players had not put the ball out. Instead, they had begun their restart maneuver, which ended with a shot from Immobile rejected by Handanovic and the Brazilian’s subsequent tap-in goal.
Hence endless controversies, and Inter fans on the hunt for Felipe Anderson, presumed guilty of lack of fair play. But it must be remembered that the only one, according to the regulations, to have the power to stop the game was the referee and was not required to do so. And also the Var had nothing to complain: the goal was very valid and Felipe Anderson, who was two meters from the goalkeeper, certainly could not kick to the side. Maybe he could have stopped earlier, when he received the ball in midfield from Milinkovic Savic, but he did not and from someone there will therefore be endless controversies, ‘hot’ like the attempts to fight on the pitch after the contested goal and at the end. match. Too bad, because looking at it from a biancoceleste point of view, they will overshadow the fact that Lazio has redeemed the poor figure of Bologna, even if not even today we have seen the game that Sarri would like. Meanwhile, after the resumption of play following the 2-1, Inter turned off the switch, and Milinkovic Savic’s header, which hit almost undisturbed, was almost the natural consequence.
Now the Nerazzurri risk seeing Napoli and Milan go away, who obviously will try to take advantage of the rival’s misstep. Waiting to see if it will really go like this, all that remains is to praise the honesty of Simone Inzaghi, who at the end of the game admitted that “the referee does not stop the game and that the opponent does not put her out”. His people have lost their heads, the coach did not send him to say but now Inter will have to immediately focus on the double confrontation of the Champions League with Sheriff Tiraspol, to avoid bad stumbles like that of Real Madrid and therefore other disappointments in Europe. Lazio can instead celebrate, even if it remains a beautiful team on paper but a symbol of the inconsistency of performance.