Manchester City picked up a 2-0 win over Napoli in the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday but were arguably helped by Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s sending off early in the clash.
The Italian defender made a last-man challenge on Erling Haaland in the 21st minute. While referee Felix Zwayer initially deemed it to be a fair challenge, VAR overturned the decision and sent the Napoli captain off, leaving Antonio Conte’s side at a disadvantage.
While the decision was fair, Corriere dello Sport aren’t happy with Zwayer’s general officiating during Napoli’s loss to Manchester City and they also express disappointment towards VAR official Christian Dingert.
The newspaper describe the refereeing in the clash as a ‘nightmare’. While they do agree with the decision to send Di Lorenzo off, there is belief that the on-field review should’ve been done in a better way as Haaland had fouled Sam Beukema in the build-up.
This wasn’t checked by Zwayer, who is handed a poor rating of only 4.5 by the outlet. They also indicate that the 44-year-old wasn’t focused on the game and didn’t blow the whistle as many times as he should have.
He is accused on having failed to spot Nico Gonzalez’s foul on Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and they believe that the midfielder should’ve been booked.
Dingert is given a rating of only 5. His performance is outright described as ‘bad’ simply for failing to take a deeper look at Haaland’s potential foul on Beukema.
It does seem like Corriere dello Sport are nitpicking largely because Napoli lost in a way which was out of their hands due to Di Lorenzo’s poorly timed challenge.
Despite that, Antonio Conte’s side did put in a valiant performance and managed to keep Manchester City quiet for large parts of the game.
