Skip to main content

Luciano Spalletti has defended the decisions of referee Gianluca Rocchi, who officiated Inter's disappointing 2-2 draw with Roma on Sunday evening.

Inter were ahead on two separate occasions in the match but were pegged back twice by a determined Roma side and ended up being forced to settle for a point.

fbl-ita-seriea-as-roma-inter-milan-5c04e24d18046445cb000004.jpg

Roma's second goal came after a VAR referral declared Marcelo Brozovic handled the ball in the box and, while there was an air of controversy surrounding the decision, Spalletti insisted that he has no issues with the referee.

He said, as quoted by Goal: "We were told that if there is a 50-50 situation, it should be viewed. But then people complain there are too many incidents and then it drags the game on too much."

Spalletti went on to praise Rocchi's overall performance and even suggested that he made the correct decision in sending the Italian manager off towards the end of the match. 

He added: "I thought Rocchi made a lot of good decisions, including the one to send me off, as I over-reacted on the touchline. It was an exciting counter-attack, he interrupted it and I lost my temper. It's fair."

The draw moved Inter into second place in Serie A before Napoli visit Atalanta on Monday, but Spalletti was keen to take the positives away from the result ahead of his side's crunch match with league leaders Juventus on Friday evening.

fbl-ita-seriea-as-romas-inter-milan-5c04e21c180464f9d5000001.jpg

"It was a very entertaining match for all watching and I think a valuable point for both teams," he added. "It shows we are on the right track and what we need to improve on."