Roberto Mancini slammed the referee for “absurd” penalties and dismissals as Inter lost 2-1 at home to Torino.
Mauro Icardi’s penalty had given Inter the half-time lead, but Cristian Molinaro and an Andrea Belotti spot-kick turned the situation on its head.
“This is a difficult game to comment on, because it should’ve been finished by the start of the second half. We lost a game that seemed impossible to lose,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia and Mediaset Premium.
Roberto Mancini slammed the referee for “absurd” penalties and dismissals as Inter lost 2-1 at home to Torino.
Mauro Icardi’s penalty had given Inter the half-time lead, but Cristian Molinaro and an Andrea Belotti spot-kick turned the situation on its head.
“This is a difficult game to comment on, because it should’ve been finished by the start of the second half. We lost a game that seemed impossible to lose,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia and Mediaset Premium.
“There are periods of the season where things go your way and moments when you concede at every attempt. I think our problem is that we don’t kill games off. It happened against Roma too, we needed to be more determined and finish it off.
“It’s not possible every time at home we get players sent off and penalties awarded against us. Joao Miranda’s second yellow card was right, but the first booking did not exist. It struck him on the shoulder, so was not handball. These things only happen to Inter.
“As for Yuto Nagatomo’s red card, that was absurd. You can tell even from a distance that Belotti is seeking contact with Nagatomo. There are five officials there, not one of them spotted a clear dive.
“There was a clear penalty not awarded to Icardi. I also admit our penalty was a mistake too, because a player can’t cut his arm off when he slides in. In my view, those penalties should not be given in general.
“The fact remains we should’ve finished it in the first half, when we had numerous chances and allowed Torino absolutely nothing. We were in total control.
“It’s an issue of being clinical at certain moments of the game. We’ve always scored fairly few goals, we used to win 1-0, now one is not enough.”
Molinaro’s equaliser was the only non-penalty of the night.
“That was a mistaken attitude from our two players on the right and it absolutely should not happen. The incidents changed the game, without doubt.”
The Nerazzurri were top of the Serie A table on January 6, but three months later are 18 adrift of leaders Juventus.
“The fans always want to win and complain if that doesn’t happen. Why did I substitute Icardi? To lose,” he said sarcastically.
“Icardi was out for three weeks, he was struggling and it was also a tactical change to reset.”