Antonio Conte hinted at conspiracy theories as he slammed VAR for not intervening in a penalty decision during Napoli’s draw at Inter Milan on Sunday.
Conte’s Napoli side remain top of the Serie A table after the 1-1 draw at the San Siro, which saw Scott McTominay open the scoring for the visitors before Hakan Calhanoglu equalised.
Calhanoglu had the chance to win the game for the hosts with a penalty in the 74th minute but fired his effort against the post.
Despite the spot-kick being missed, Conte remained furious with the officials for awarding it, believing VAR should have stepped in to overturn the referee’s decision.
The VAR did not step in as it was deemed no clear and obvious error and the foul by Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa on Denzel Dumfries stood.
Conte fumed to DAZN after the match, saying: ‘What does it mean that the VAR cannot intervene? It only intervenes when it is convenient. If there is an error it must intervene. These incidents change matches.
‘This thing really pisses me off, as it does all coaches. The VAR must correct the referees’ errors or intervene if something was not seen. We are in a situation where we start to think again that there are ulterior motives on everyone’s part. The referee in these cases must go and see, then at most confirm the decision.’
He added in a post-match press conference, via Football Italia: ‘It was annoying to hear that VAR could not intervene on a non-existent penalty. If there’s an error, VAR must intervene. If there’s an obvious error, it must intervene.
‘Using VAR like this fuels conspiracy theories and bad thoughts. I don’t want to have bad thoughts. If there’s an error, VAR must intervene.
‘I want intellectual honesty and I’ve been hearing this thing for a while, so now it’s upsetting me,” he continued.
‘If there’s a clear error, you must correct it or at least tell the referee to double-check on the monitor. If he confirmed the decision, I’d be the first to defend him.’
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi refused to be dragged into the argument, saying: ‘I have nothing to say. I think Antonio spoke for himself.
‘Sometimes you receive something, and sometimes it’s taken away. We must all try to help the referees, starting with me. I received a yellow card, but a referee can make mistakes, and we must all try to help. All games are intense, and we must try to help.’
Napoli remain top of Serie A, but just one point clear of four teams who are on 25 points: Atalanta, Fiorentina, Inter and Lazio, with Juventus only one further point behind that quartet.