Pioli slams referee for ‘double standards’ in Inter loss

In the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Inter, Milan was caught off-guard twice within a span of 11 minutes, as Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored early goals to give the Nerazzuri a 2-0 lead going into the second leg on May 16th. Milan was fortunate not to have conceded more as Spanish referee Manzano signaled for a penalty after Lautaro Martinez seemed to have been fouled inside the box by Simon Kjaer.
Fortunately for Milan, VAR intervened and prompted the referee to overturn his initial decision to award a penalty to Inter and rescind the yellow card given to Simon Kjaer. Despite the protests of Milan players, the referee did not issue a caution to Lautaro Martinez for diving.
Following the match, during a press conference, Pioli expressed his frustration towards the referee and accused him of applying double standards. “Inter put in more quality in the first half and we missed too many balls for the level of the match. Until the seventh minute Inter had never entered our area, then they scored two goals. It’s a shame because we believed in it, matches can change quickly. We will try to do better in the second leg. I think they had the better of the tackles and second balls. The match went badly from a tactical and mental point of view,” he quoted.
Despite an underwhelming performance from his troops in the first 90 minutes, Pioli remains confident that they can turn the tide in the second leg by producing a much-improved performance.