By TAMARA PRENN, SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
Published: 07:50 EST, 10 December 2025 | Updated: 07:50 EST, 10 December 2025
Former England coach Fabio Capello did not hold back in his criticism of Liverpool's conduct as Arne Slot's side claimed a crucial win on the road against Inter Milan in Tuesday night's Champions League action.
The Reds travelled to Milan having won only one of their last six outings in all competitions amid a challenging start to their Premier League title defence this season.
After an early effort from Ibrahima Konate was chalked off in the first-half, the visitors managed to cling on to their 1-0 victory after Dominik Szoboszlai put his side ahead from the spot at the tail end of the second.
But the Italian manager was keen to stress that Liverpool had been fortunate to leave the San Siro with all three points, pouring scorn on the validity of the foul that Florian Wirtz had drawn inside the box.
The blockbuster summer transfer had his shirt pulled by Alessandro Bastoni in the penalty area, and after going down, saw the penalty he had won struck cleanly by his team-mate.
Speaking after the final whistle, Capello was clear, saying on punditry duty for Sky Sports Italia: 'He lets himself fall, that's a dive.'
Fabio Capello hit out at the decision which led to Liverpool's win on the road against Inter Milan
Florian Wirtz received a sharp pull on his shirt from Alessandro Bastoni in the second-half
The tussle in the box saw VAR intervene to award the Reds the penalty
'The referee saw everything,' Capello continued, singling out referee Felix Zwayer 'I don't understand why VAR intervened here.
'If that's a foul, then we'll get a penalty after every corner kick in the future, because everyone's always fighting, everyone's holding onto their jerseys. That was unfair.'
Capello also referred to the decision as a 'scandal', and added: 'It's a disgrace to award such a penalty'.
The 79-year-old found his perspective echoed by Inter's players, with Piotr Zielinski stating after the final whistle that: 'if we keep calling fouls like that, we'll only get penalties from now on.'
Manuel Akanji, who is on loan from Manchester City this season at the Serie A side called the decision 'one of the weakest penalties' he had ever seen awarded.
But at full-time, Slot was keen to focus on the win itself, rather than the decision - or the roiling controversy around the exclusion of Mohamed Salah from his squad.
'Tonight it should be all about the players that are here,' Slot said. 'In the rich history Liverpool has had, they have had many of these evenings.
'(The performance) was all I could ask for. I think (it's) the fourth game in 10 days, that is not what you see a lot with only 13 outfield players available with experience, after the blow we had conceding the 3-3 in Leeds, then in this stadium against such a strong Inter team, we hardly gave away a chance.
'We had a great mentality second half, we get better and better.'