Head coach of the Italian national team Luciano Spalletti responded to the words of Napoli club president Aurelio De Laurentiis, who said that Ukraine was robbed in the Euro 2024 qualifying match against Italy.
After the game, the president of the reigning Serie A champion said that the referee should have awarded a penalty against the Azzura squad in stoppage time in the second half.
De Laurentiis said that “no one wants to see a team robbed the way Ukraine was robbed by Italy last night.”
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Spalletti replied to De Laurentiis
Spalletti, who took charge of Napoli last season and led the Neapolitans to their first Italian title in 33 years, said the Azzura squad “didn't steal anything.”
— Stolen qualification? There were two ways to comment on the (result of) the match. The first is about the players' performance: going out onto the field and playing the game with courage and generosity. And the second is to take that single episode and say that the game was stolen. It's frustrating. We didn’t steal anything,” Spalletti said.
During the referee's stoppage time, Brian Cristante and Mikhail Mudryk made contact with the legs of the Italians in the penalty area.
The referee of the match, Jesus Gil Manzano, very quickly received a tip from the VAR referees and did not go to review the episode. The game in Leverkusen ended in a 0-0 draw, which was enough for Italy to qualify for Euro 2024.
After the match, Italian captain Gianluigi Donnarumma suggested that the referee had every reason to award a penalty kick against the Italian team.
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