Sampdoria Coach Marco Giampaolo has “serious doubts” over the Lazio penalty awarded via VAR in a spectacular 2-2 draw.
Fabio Quagliarella had given Samp the lead at the Stadio Olimpico and Francesco Acerbi equalised, but at the 96th minute Ciro Immobile converted a spot-kick for handball.
Sampdoria Coach Marco Giampaolo has “serious doubts” over the Lazio penalty awarded via VAR in a spectacular 2-2 draw.
Fabio Quagliarella had given Samp the lead at the Stadio Olimpico and Francesco Acerbi equalised, but at the 96th minute Ciro Immobile converted a spot-kick for handball.
Joachim Andersen jumped in the wall to charge down a Luis Alberto free kick and seemed to have his arms across his chest, but the referee viewed it again on VAR and awarded the penalty anyway.
“I am happy with the draw, because we didn’t deserve to lose and I have serious doubts over the penalty,” Giampaolo told DAZN.
“A penalty for handball ought to be clear and evident, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I’m not even sure VAR should’ve alerted the referee to view it again, as it wasn’t an obvious error.
“In any case, my team never gave in, we fought to the end and were able to suffer under pressure. Lazio are very strong and physically imposing, so towards the end I had to put on some players with more height to balance things out.”
At the 99th minute and 49 seconds, substitute Riccardo Saponara acrobatically flicked the bouncing ball over Thomas Strakosha for the equaliser.
“Scoring at the 99th was wonderful and just, because Sampdoria did not deserve to be the losing side tonight.”