Marotta: "A decisive moment in changing the balance of the match"

“I want to make a contribution to the footballing system, because even I am a bit confused and need more clarity. Napoli deserved the win, but the penalty incident was decisive in changing the balance and was born from a recommendation from the assistant. The referee didn't blow the whistle, and there was no one better placed than him: I think this incident should've been looked at by VAR and the images would've given a lot of clarity. Napoli's win basically came from this element in my opinion: if we go back to the run up to the penalty, we have to treat it as a separate incident, independent of the match itself. I’ll start from Rocchi’s own words ‘enough with soft penalties.’ I’ve read comments from respected journalists who believe it wasn’t a penalty, and I wanted to contribute to the discussion in order to bring some clarity. I believe in the central role of the referee, if an assistant enters in, the referee cannot be influenced so easily. I went to the dressing room at half time and the penalty definitely created a bitter taste. Napoli would've won but I'm referring to the chronology of the match and how we got to this episode. From then onwards, the match changed: Napoli deserved the win in the last half hour, our players gave their all. Kudos to them. Conte and Lautaro? They are on field dynamics that I'd rather not speak about, they happen a lot. ”