´Incomprehensible´ VAR did not award Atalanta penalty, says Gasperini

Gian Piero Gasperini hit out at the decision not to award Atalanta a penalty in the first half of their 1-1 draw against Inter at San Siro on Saturday, questioning why the incident was not referred to VAR.

Inter’s Lautaro Martinez appeared to use his hands to trip Rafael Toloi in the area as the Atalanta player looked to convert a rebound after Samir Handanovic had saved his header.

The visitors were one goal down at that point after Martinez scored early in the contest, though Robin Gosens netted a second-half equaliser and Luis Muriel had a chance to win it when a penalty was awarded two minutes before the end, only for Handanovic to deny him.

After a dramatic finish, Gasperini still had the first-half incident in his mind, saying it was “clear” the decision on the pitch not to award a spot-kick should have been overturned.

“I don’t understand why VAR didn’t call it,” he told DAZN.

“The game is over now, but these things are ugly to see. This type of error should not be allowed in the age of VAR. It’s incomprehensible.

“I feel bad for those in the VAR booth because this kind of error takes something away from a very valuable technology. 

“I feel personally that it ought to be used only on situations that are clear and this really was clear.”

Nevertheless, Gasperini was delighted by the display from his in-form side, who are level on points with fourth-placed Roma and headed into the contest on the back of consecutive 5-0 wins over Milan and Parma.

“In the second half we dominated. The defence was extraordinary,” he said. 

“All three defenders were very good at shortening [the distance] and anticipating always, preventing Inter from playing in the spaces. This was the key to the game. 

“[Josip] Ilicic and [Alejandro] Gomez also grew in the second half and that benefited the whole team.”