“Evil prank”
Italian press goes wild over German referee
December 10, 2025 – 11:00 a.mReading time: 1 min.
Liverpool FC won late in Milan yesterday, Tuesday. The decisive goal came from a penalty. Its creation angered the hosts.
A late penalty whistle from Felix Zwayer sparked heated discussions in Italy. In the final phase of the Champions League duel between Inter Milan and Liverpool FC, the German referee decided on a penalty for the English team based on video evidence – Florian Wirtz was briefly pulled on his shirt by Alessandro Bastoni in the penalty area. Dominik Szoboszlai converted the subsequent penalty to make it 1-0.
The Italian press in particular reacted sharply: The “Gazzetta dello Sport” accused Zwayer of favoring his compatriot Wirtz and spoke of a “bad prank” against Inter. The “Corriere dello Sport” openly questioned why UEFA referee chief Roberto Rosetti continued to rely on Zwayer, whom the newspaper described as “simply scandalous”.
Criticism also came from the Inter club environment. According to Gazzetta, President Giuseppe Marotta is said to have complained directly to Zwayer. Several Inter professionals showed incomprehension: Piotr Zieliński criticized the fact that “from now on we only get penalties” when such fouls are whistled. Henrikh Mkhitaryan spoke of a “phantom penalty”, Manuel Akanji called the decision “one of the weakest” he had ever seen.
Coach Cristian Chivu, on the other hand, refrained from open criticism and found the game management to be solid overall, but emphasized that “some dynamics need to be understood better.”