President congratulates Liverpool but fumes at officiating

Pallotta was at the Stadio Olimpico to see his side fall to an agonising 7-6 aggregate defeat against Liverpool in their semi-final tie, despite winning 4-2 on the night.

Having come so close to a place in the final, Pallotta was left feeling aggrieved by a number of refereeing mistakes during the game.

“First of all I want to congratulate Liverpool. They are a great team,” Pallotta said.

“But second of all it is absolutely clear that VAR is needed in the Champions League. Because you just can’t let stuff like this go. You [journalists] can all see this stuff on the film.”

Pallotta pointed to a number of decisions throughout the match – most notably a handball on the line from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a mistaken offside call on Edin Dzeko in the build-up to a clear foul on the striker inside the box – as extremely frustrating errors.

“I know it is difficult to ref, but it is really embarrassing when we lose [narrowly] on aggregate like that,” he added.

“Again, Liverpool is a great team, congratulations to them going forward – but if we don’t get VAR in Champions League then stuff like this is an absolute joke.”