Inter director Beppe Marotta says the club are in first place in the table on merit: ‘the best team will win the championship’. There was controversy this weekend when the referee’s association admitted that Davide Frattesi’s goal in the Nerazzurri’s 2-1 win over Verona, shouldn’t have stood. Speaking to reporters at Lega Serie A after an event on Monday afternoon, Marotta explained why he believes the best team will still end up winning the title at the end of the season:
“First of all I am here to make a point at the end of the first half of the season. We have to recognise Inter’s merits to be first deservedly thanks to a work culture applied in an intense way, to a great sense of belonging on the part of everyone, to the solidity of the club and to an unquestionable heritage that is represented by our fans. This must be recognised: statistics sometimes objectively represent facts, and the statistics say that we are first with 48 points, 15 victories, only 1 defeat, best attack, best defence and best goal difference. We are therefore authoritatively at the top of the league table.”
“Controversy and criticism must invest the entire world of Italian football, you have to know how to manage and accept them. The introduction of VAR has been invoked and evoked by everyone and we must emphasise that it was not taken to definitively eradicate referee errors but to reduce them, and I believe this objective has been achieved. If subjectivity exists, so does the error of a human being, the referee, but I will not go into that. However, I am certain that at the end of the championship the best team will win the championship’.
“Zazzaroni’s words? I don’t want to get into polemics and these captious considerations. All I’m saying is that in my experience I’ve learnt how to handle situations. But this is far from thinking that a club, in this case Inter, can have favouritism. This we send back to sender. I sincerely did not pick up on that kind of sentiment from the critics. I stand by the fact that a team. I want to point out Inter’s merits on the field. Then, I think the controversy should extend to other matches, not just ours. It happens.”
“Growth Decree? I confirm that it could have been used with different application criteria than those of today, but it certainly represents a defeat for the world of sport, because by doing so the competitive level of Italian teams, even at European level, decreases. The fact that the youth set-ups are being affected is a false problem, it does not exist and I repeat it again’.
“The heated tones against Inter? I’ve been in football for more than 40 years and every year episodes in favour or against this or that club are examined. Before there was no VAR, today there is and there is still controversy. Today we are the hare and the hare must also be able to dodge the hunters’ blows’.
