Inter CEO Antonello still enraged by officiating in Juve defeat

Inter remain furious at the officiating in their dramatic 3-2 Serie A loss to Juventus, the Nerazzurri’s CEO Alessandro Antonello has said.

Two goals in the space of three minutes saw Juve pull off a remarkable late turnaround on Saturday, Gonzalo Higuain heading in an 89th-minute winner against 10-man Inter after Milan Skriniar’s own goal had levelled matters.

Yet referee Daniele Orsato drew the ire of Inter’s players throughout. He sent off Matias Vecino following a VAR review after originally only booking the player for an apparent stamp on Mario Mandzukic, while Juve’s Miralem Pjanic appeared to be lucky to avoid a dismissal after barging Rafinha when on a booking.

Juve’s opener also survived a VAR review with Blaise Matuidi seeming to brush Juan Cuadrado’s cross with his arm, although Massimiliano Allegri’s men had another goal ruled out for offside following the use of a video replay.

The result sent Juve four points clear at the top of Serie A, with nearest rivals Napoli then stumbling as they were beaten 3-0 at Fiorentina on Sunday. Inter are four points adrift of Lazio in the race for the final Champions League place.

Asked if their anger had subsided, Antonello told Inter TV: “Absolutely not. The gaffer had asked the team to be at their fiercest in the pitch and they were. Some unacceptable things happened and we’re furious. 

| Alessandro #Antonello speaks to @Inter_TV

https://t.co/UxK2bwrV6b#FCIM pic.twitter.com/t0CAJqceYT

— Inter (@Inter_en) April 30, 2018

“Everybody can see what happened. It was seen by 80,000 people at the stadium and by 700 million people across 170 countries around the world.

“We decided to wait until today [Monday] to comment because we didn’t want to speak in the heat of the moment and risk being influenced by all the emotions flying about.

“We’ve watched all of the incidents back and we cannot explain why two sets of weights and measures were used in the same game.”