Baroni irritated at Fiorentina-Lazio penalty incidents

Lazio coach Marco Baroni was left frustrated by the two penalties which sealed their 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina. ‘These situations are contrary to the spirit of football, you can’t even try to block a cross now.’

Mario Gila had put the Aquile in front with a header from the Nuno Tavares corner, but Albert Gudmundsson came on at half-time and transformed the game at the Stadio Franchi.

He earned the first penalty by drawing a Matteo Guendouzi foul, then Tavares caught Dodo at the by-line for the decider.

“This was a game decided entirely by incidents. When a team has more possession, more shots, gets into the opposition penalty area more times, it’s frustrating,” Baroni told DAZN.

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Both the penalties were the ‘step on foot’ issue that has prompted much irritation in football, as it is an automatic foul even when two players go for the same ball and one is a fraction of a second later than the other.

“I have been involved in over 1,000 games and I can say these situations are contrary to the spirit of football. A player cannot even try to block a cross now without risking a penalty. I have passion for the sport, I watch football all the time, but it’s so sad to see incidents like this.

“Evidently we have to change our way of defending and staying in the penalty area too. Even on the first penalty, Gudmundsson had a heavy touch and moved the ball, Guendouzi had a right to go for it, that wasn’t an intentional stamp. These situations are right at the limit.

“We coaches want to provide good football, but it has to be allowed to develop on the pitch. If this is the direction that refereeing is going in, then it becomes difficult for us to tell our players how to approach defending.”

It was a VAR On-Field Review that identified the Nuno Tavares foul on Dodo in the final minute, seemingly after the cross has been played at the by-line.

“This one is even worse,” complained Baroni. “The referees are very good, but in these situations, they make it difficult for us to do our jobs. I want an aggressive team that closes down opponents, I can’t tell the players to then ease off and be careful.”

Lazio had their chances to win the game too, but were kept out by David De Gea’s goalkeeping, while Moise Kean missed a free header at the other end.

“The team does play and create opportunities, clearly we need to have more bodies in the box to attack the goal. I feel those penalty incidents damaged us more than we would’ve deserved for the performance,” concluded Baroni.