Antonio Conte shouted furiously at the VAR protocol after the penalty awarded to Inter in their 1-1 draw against Napoli. ‘It is a wonderful instrument, but it has to be used honestly or it starts to create bad thoughts.’
The Partenopei knew that defeat would see them lose the leadership of Serie A, but had taken an early lead at San Siro when Scott McTominay turned in from a corner kick routine.
It was cancelled out by the Hakan Calhanoglu scorcher that bent back Alex Meret’s glove, though Inter had the chance to win it with a soft penalty which the Turkey international fired against the upright.
Conte arrived at the interview station just as the pundits were discussing the penalty, noting it was absolutely minimal contact between Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa and Denzel Dumfries, but because there was still some contact, VAR could not overturn it as a clear and obvious error.
Conte vents fury at VAR after Inter-Napoli call
“What does that mean, VAR cannot intervene if there is an error. Can they only intervene when it suits them? A decision from the referee like this can transform a match and VAR cannot do anything about it?” a furious Conte told DAZN.
“Either VAR is there to correct errors or it is not. If there is an error, it has to intervene. What does this even mean? It really angers me, but it does to all coaches, it has to intervene if there is a mistake.
“In logical terms, if there is VAR, it must be used to correct errors or show the referee situations that he did not see. If it’s a clear error, and it was, then why should Mariani be allowed to just do that.
“We had started so well with VAR, but now things are getting off track and they are not intervening. Call the referee, he can even confirm the decision if he wants, but he has to see it again. I would say that both for us and if it was for the opposition.”
DAZN refereeing expert Luca Marelli tried to explain that VAR has always only been allowed to intervene for a clear and obvious error, but Conte did not accept that.
“I feel more comfortable if the VAR can always intervene to correct the referee, not leaving it to the referee, otherwise trust me that it will start to create bad thoughts. Trust me. This is a wonderful instrument if it is used in a clear, honest fashion.
“I won’t have any of this ‘ooh, the VAR cannot intervene’ – if anything it is giving the referee an opportunity to not look like crap, quite frankly. They are doing him a favour by correcting his mistakes.”
Conte spent so much time angrily ranting at the concept of VAR protocols that he had barely any time to discuss the game.
“I said that we would not come here to just be sparring partners against the strongest squad in Serie A, so it was important for us to face them with strength, character, accepting duels all over the field.
“On that score, I am very satisfied. It was not easy to play here, we all know that we are making improvements and working hard, otherwise you don’t come to San Siro twice and also against Juventus without defeat.
“The lads are proving themselves, though of course we could’ve done much, much more in terms of quality today. There were too many errors, a lot of technical errors, but I am sure there will be further improvements.”
The fight for the Scudetto is now wide open, because Napoli are only one point clear of the group including Inter, Atalanta, Lazio and Fiorentina.
