Nicolo Barella still harbours grudge over Liverpool incident after Inter humbled by Bodo/Glimt
Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella continues to harbour a grudge over an incident involving Liverpool this season as his team were dumped out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
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The runaway Serie A leaders saw their hopes of a third European final in four years ended in the knockout round play-offs after a 2-1 loss at home to Bodo/Glimt completed a 5-2 aggregate defeat against the Norwegian outfit.
Earlier in the competition, the Nerazzurri lost 1-0 to the Reds at the San Siro, with the goal coming from a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty in the closing minutes. The spot kick was awarded after a VAR review spotted Alessandro Bastoni pulling the shirt of Florian Wirtz inside the box.
That incident enraged everyone of an Inter persuasion, while even Andy Robertson and Jamie Carragher admitted they’d have felt aggrieved if such a decision had gone against Liverpool.
Barella laments Liverpool penalty in win over Inter
Speaking to reporters after Inter’s humbling by Bodo/Glimt, Barella lamented how that penalty decision contributed towards his team being consigned to the knockout round play-offs rather than qualifying directly for the last 16 of the Champions League.
The 29-year-old said (via Calciomercato on X, translated from Italian): “This is the difference when you miss out by one point because they give you a penalty in the 90th minute and you don’t advance among the top 8.
“You would’ve spared yourself two matches avoiding a trip like Bodo. This is football and the new Champions League.”
Inter can only blame themselves over European humbling
Thinking back to the penalty that Liverpool were awarded at the San Siro in December, the decision may have been generous, but Bastoni didn’t need to tug Wirtz’s shirt and gave the officials legitimate grounds to intervene.
Also, Inter had eight league phase matches in which to secure direct entry to the round of 16, so them missing out on a top-eight finish by one point can’t be attributed solely to a single moment in one game. They still had two more matches after the Reds’ visit to accomplish that mission and failed to do so.
A two-legged tie against a team in their debut Champions League campaign who just about avoided pre-knockout elimination ought to have been more than manageable for last year’s beaten finalists, but the Nerazzurri were thoroughly outperformed by Bodo/Glimt across 180 minutes of football.
Liverpool fans with long memories certainly won’t have any sympathy for the Milan outfit after some hugely contentious refereeing in the Italian side’s 3-0 home win over the Reds in the 1965 European Cup semi-final, which saw them prevail 4-3 on aggregate.
For all that Barella was angered by the penalty incident in December, ultimately Inter were beaten by the better team over the past week and will simply have to take their medicine on this one.
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