Spezia-Inter, Caldara’s penalty on D’Ambrosio. Wrong by Lautaro

Minute 9 at the peak of La Spezia, the Inter player D’Ambrosio remains on the ground after contact with Caldara in the La Spezia area: it is not a penalty for the referee Livio Marinelli, who saw a clean intervention on the ball. The Inter fans protest, but Di Paolo and his assistant Abisso are already at work at Var. And the images are clear, so Marinelli is called to the on-field review and doesn’t take long to decide: rigor. From the review, Caldara’s intervention on D’Ambrosio’s shin is clear, with a hammered foot that also earned him a yellow card (and also risked a red card). To Gyasi who protests, Marinelli replies: “He takes the ball later”, as can be understood from his lip.

Lautaro’s mistake

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Winning the penalty is part of the job, then you have to shoot it and score it. Four minutes elapse between the foul and the moment the ball arrives at the penalty spot. The surprise is that it is not Romelu Lukaku who places him for the penalty: Lautaro Martinez goes there to shoot. The Belgian turns towards the match, a little taken aback by the decision, then laughs about it. It’s not the first time this year that the Argentine has gone to the penalty spot, it had already happened in Florence, but Lukaku wasn’t there: he ended up with the goal, the one that gave the 3-2 lead in the match then won 4-3. This time he does it differently, the Bull shoots a fairly central shot, slightly to his right, and at half height. A wedding invitation for Bartlomiej Dragowski, who has already found himself in this situation twice this season: a month ago against Kvaratskhelia he conceded a goal, but at the beginning of the season (October 2) he hypnotized none other than Ciro Immobile. And he succeeds again this time, arms joined and penalty rejected. It is his tenth career save, the eighth in Serie A (out of 27). For Lautaro, on the other hand, it is the sixth mistake in his career, three of which arrived last year, against Milan, Cagliari and Udinese. He was back on the spot in October against Fiorentina, precisely scoring. But in the last nine shots it is already the wrong fourth, this time with Lukaku nearby watching.