Made-Up Liverpool Penalty Caused Inter Milan’s Early UCL Exit – Barella

Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella has blamed Liverpool’s penalty for his club’s shock early Champions League elimination. Despite entering the second leg as heavy favourites, the Nerazzurri failed to overturn a first-leg deficit against Bodo/Glimt, eventually falling to a 5-2 aggregate defeat.

Reacting, the controversial Liverpool penalty given months ago is the true catalyst for Inter’s downfall, and Milan should never have been in the position to face Bodo/Glimt in the knockout round play-offs.

He added that the made-up penalty against the Reds eventually prevented Inter from finishing in the top eight.

His words, “We tried but they were better. It is infuriating that we slipped out of the league phase by one point because they called a made-up penalty in the 90th minute [vs Liverpool], and with that, we didn’t end up in the top eight. Without it, we would have avoided the two extra matches and the trip to Norway, but that is the new Champions League.”

WOW.

Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation.

Domestically, the club has won 19 league titles, eight FA Cups, a record nine League Cups and 16 FA Community Shields. In international competitions, the club has won six European Cups, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups—all English records—and one FIFA Club World Cup.

The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, led the club to a combined 11 League titles and four European Cups. Liverpool won two further European Cups in 2005 and 2019 under the management of Rafael Benítez and Jürgen Klopp, respectively; the latter led Liverpool to a 19th league title in 2020, the club’s first during the Premier League era.

Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park. Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the club moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding. Left with an empty ground, Houlding founded Liverpool in 1892 and the club has played at Anfield ever since. The capacity of the stadium at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool’s first match at Anfield.