Arsene Wenger says referee made major mistake in Inter’s Champions League win over Barcelona | OneFootball

Arsene Wenger says VAR made a major mistake in awarding a penalty against Barcelona in their dramatic Champions League semi-final defeat by Inter Milan.

Having been 2-0 down at half-time, Barca produced a brilliant three-goal second-half comeback to stun the San Siro and stand on the brink of the final, leading 6-5 on aggregate. But Francesco Acerbi steered home a late equaliser for Inter to force extra time, and substitute Davide Frattesi added another to clinch a 7-6 win for the Italian club.

Wenger, who is Fifa’s chief of global development, disagreed with the award of Inter’s first-half penalty, which Hakan Calhanoglu converted from the spot.

The Polish referee Szymon Marciniak initially waved away the penalty claims when Barca defender Pau Cubarsi tackled Inter forward Lautaro Martinez in the box. But VAR intervened, telling Marciniak to check again, and the referee awarded the foul after viewing his pitch-side monitor.

Cubarsi appeared to make a strong, clean tackle but slow-motion replays showed how the defender made contact with Martinez’s foot rather than the ball. However, Wenger suggested Martinez had deliberately put himself in Cubarsi’s path to draw the foul.

Pau Cubarsi slides through Lautaro Martinez’s foot to concede a penalty (Reuters)

“I am highly against these kind of penalties and I am highly against using the slow motion,” Wenger told beInSports.

“At normal pace this is a great tackle, he’s first on the ball. Why does [Cubarsi] touch him? Look what Lautaro is doing. He leans into him, he looks for the penalty, he knows he cannot score because he feels the defender there.

“The referee, in this situation, has not made the right decision. He [Cubarsi] is first to the ball and that’s what counts for me. The rest is done by Lautaro. It doesn’t matter if there’s contact, it’s who plays the ball and who wins the ball first.”

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick also criticised referee Marciniak who had a busy night, later reversing a decision he had signalled as a spot kick for Barcelona, with VAR saying Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s foul on Lamine Yamal was just outside the box.

Barca’s players and bench also complained about what they thought was handball inside the box by Inter defender Francesco Acerbi and a foul by full-back Denzel Dumfries on Gerard Martin in the build-up to the equaliser which took the game to extra time.

“I don’t want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision that was 50-50 went (Inter’s) way,” Flick told a press conference. “I am disappointed, but not with my team. They tried everything. It’s the way it is. We are out, but next year we will try again to make the fans happy.

“It makes me sad ... My team did an excellent job. I don’t like talking about the referee ... I’ve told him what I think, but I’m not going to say it here what I’ve said...”