Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Roberto Mancini: Inter not lucky with referees, denied penalty in Milan draw

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini was convinced his side should have been awarded a penalty during Sunday's goalless derby draw with AC Milan.

The San Siro stalemate leaves both Milanese sides with a mountain to climb if they are to play in Europe next season. With seven games of the season remaining, the Rossoneri trail fifth-placed Sampdoria by seven points with the Nerazzurri a point further behind.

And it was they who were unhappiest with the draw, with Mancini adamant Inter were denied a spot kick for a handball by Luca Antonelli.

"We're not lucky with the referees," he told Mediaset television. "When they need to see things for us, they don't, and vice-versa. They didn't give us a clear penalty. We've got to accept it, but something needs to change.

"Somebody's got to pay more attention because it was a clear penalty. Referees are always telling us the same things when we have meetings with them, but nothing ever changes."

Other than that decision, and the result, Mancini was satisfied with his side's performance as the nominal home team.

"It was a good performance and I'm happy with it," he said. "It's a pity we didn't manage to win it, but this is fine for this year. We created lots of chances but weren't able to take them. The only time we didn't play well was in the second fraction of the first half."

Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi did not necessarily agree about the penalty call, but he was certainly the more satisfied with the point.

"[The handball] was involuntary," he said. "But I never talk about the incidents.

"My only regret is that we didn't score. I think a draw's a fair result. It's not tonight that we've lost important points, but in January and February when we lost ground. But we're playing well and we can still make Europe. We've not lost any big points recently."

Milan face Genoa, Napoli and Roma in three of their next four matches, and getting at least six points from those four games will be crucial if they want to remain in with a shot at a top-six finish.

Inter host Roma next weekend and then face Lazio, Juventus and Genoa in successive games in early May before ending the campaign at home to Empoli, leaving them a lot of work to do to close the gap.

"I thought we would have had seven or eight points more than we've got now, and with a bit of luck on our side we could have been better placed," added Mancini. "But a coach can make mistakes when he takes over at a club in November."

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