Inter penalty awarded after five-minute video consultation
Inter Milan claimed a third straight win with a Mauro Icardi penalty and Ivan Perisic volley giving them a 2-0 win over SPAL to join Juventus at the top of the Serie A table on Sunday.
Champions Juventus beat Chievo 3-0 on Saturday and Luciano Spalletti’s Inter were too strong for promoted SPAL in the San Siro.
Icardi added to his Serie A tally this season with a 27thminute penalty giving him a fifth goal after braces in the opening two games.
The penalty was awarded after the intervention of the video assistant referee (VAR), after Joao Mario was tripped inside the box with Icardi slotting in.
The referee took over five minutes to award Inter the penalty after consulting with the video assistant.
Inter midfielder Mario went down on the edge of the penalty area under a challenge from Francesco Vicari in the 22nd minute and referee Claudio Gavillucci quickly called for the video replay.
After a lengthy consultation, the official finally awarded a penalty and Inter captain Icardi sent Alfred Gomis the wrong way for his fifth goal in three games, officially recorded as being scored in the 27th minute.
Perisic completed Inter’s win with a thumping volley in the 87th minute to leave his side with nine points from their opening three games and hand SPAL a first defeat of the season.
In between, Milan Skriniar crashed a long-range effort against the crossbar after spotting Gomis off his line.
SPAL, who have returned to the top flight after a 49-year absence, were far from outclassed and created several dangerous situations.
Serie A is one of several national leagues trialing the VAR system before soccer’s rule-making body IFAB decides whether to permit their use on a permanent basis.
World governing body FIFA is hoping to use VARs at next year’s World Cup.
Inter and Juventus both have nine points from three games.