Perotti 'angry' over missed penalty decision

Diego Perotti admitted he was angry not to be awarded a penalty during Roma’s 3-1 defeat to Inter Milan on Saturday night.

The Giallorossi were 1-0 up thanks to Edin Dzeko’s early strike when Perotti appeared to be fouled by Inter defender Milan Skriniar midway through the second half.

The referee waved away the protest, however, and Roma went on to pay the price as two goals from Mauro Icardi and a clincher from Matias Vecino saw the visitors turn the game around.

In a game where Eusebio Di Francesco’s side also hit the post three times, the defeat was hard to take.

“We’ve hit the post three times, we had a penalty that we didn’t get – I think that we deserved more,” Perotti said afterwards.

“They were strong and have a player like Icardi who can be so dangerous in the box, and he took the chances he got. We need to work to do better.

“But it’s not normal to hit the post three times, to play well and, especially, to not get a penalty [like that]. There is VAR, a technology that was not used well. We’re definitely a bit angry.”

Perotti was pressed on his comments about VAR, a new technology that is supposed to enable a fifth official to review penalty decisions during the game and alert the referee in key moments.

“I saw a bit of Genoa-Juventus and it went like this,” Perotti added, referring to a penalty given to Genoa earlier in the day after video replays. “They gave a corner [after watching it] but it can't have been… You can see clearly how I touch the ball and the defender touches me. But there it is, everything was wrong, so the problem isn’t the technology.

“I think De Rossi asked [if they reviewed] and they said that there was nothing and it was a corner. What can we do?”

Perotti acknowledged, however, that Inter had subsequently made the most of their fortune.

“Before they got the two goals we had control, I was fouled in the box, and the game could have been finished there,” Perotti noted. “But they are tough, Inter are not a Serie B side. We lost our way a bit, we were unlucky not to score the second goal and then we lost the game.

“Now there is the international break, we have to recover and work harder.”