Massimiliano Allegri passionately supported referee Daniele Chiffi's decision to award Filip Kostic's controversial winner after Juventus beat Inter 1-0 on Sunday.
Kostic drilled home brilliantly to give Juve the advantage after 23 minutes at San Siro but a lengthy VAR review followed to ascertain whether the ball had hit Adrien Rabiot's arm in the build-up.
However, the goal stood and Allegri's men would not relinquish that lead as Juve triumphed for the sixth time in their last seven Serie A games to move within seven points of the Champions League places.
When questioned on the decision to allow the goal, Allegri was quick to back Chiffi and the VAR's decision to stay with the original verdict.
"Don't make me angry," the Juve head coach told DAZN after the match. "The referee's decisions must be accepted. The decisions go one way or another.
"Let's not make a lot of noise, it wasn't easy for Chiffi to referee. Let's talk about football, not referees.
"I said if VAR is objective, then it is functional, but if it becomes subjective, that is a problem. This tonight is an objective case, we have not made any controversy.
"The less we talk about referees, the more we help them."
Juve completed the double over Inter while keeping a clean sheet in both games for the first time since the 1976-77 campaign, yet Allegri wants his side to be more ruthless going forward.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, the Italian said: "The boys trained well for this. It was a good game, winning in Milan isn't easy and it raises our confidence.
"We had a good match from a technical point of view, we conceded little against a strong and technical team.
"In the second half, however, we had to close it."
Allegri went down the tunnel before the final whistle, missing a fiery ending that saw Danilo D'Ambrosio and Leandro Paredes dismissed after the final whistle for their roles in a post-match confrontation.
Asked why he decided to make an early exit, Allegri told DAZN: "They didn't need me any more at that point.
"I was getting irritated, so rather than get myself booked or sent off, I decided it was best to leave. I left it in their hands, the players knew what they were doing."
Inter seal Serie A title with win in ill-tempered Milan derby
Inter Milan set the seal on a season of domestic dominance with an ill-tempered 2-1 victory over bitter rivals AC Milan to claim a 20th Serie A title.
Simone Inzaghi’s side have lost just once in the league this season and secured the Scudetto with five games to spare thanks to goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram.
Fikayo Tomori pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left to set up a potentially nervy finish, but the most notable action was a 93rd-minute melee – sparked by some needless pushing and shoving between Denzel Dumfries and Theo Hernandez – which saw both men sent off.
And Milan’s miserable evening was compounded when Davide Calabria was also shown a red card for swinging an arm into the face of Davide Frattesi as they waited for a corner.
The sides came into the game level on 19 titles each, but Stefano Pioli’s side were 14 points adrift of Inter and simply hoping to delay Inter’s title celebrations for a few days in the Derby della Madonnina.
That looked a forlorn task with Inter having scored the most goals in Serie A this season while also boasting the meanest defence and, after Lautaro Martinez blazed an early volley well over, they duly took the lead in the 18th minute.
Federico Dimarco’s outswinging corner was flicked on at the near post by Benjamin Pavard and Acerbi was somehow left unmarked to head home from close range.
Inter should have doubled their lead in the 25th minute when a delightful flick from Thuram allowed Dimarco to get to the byline and pull the ball back for Martinez, but again he could only direct his shot high and wide of Mike Maignan’s goal.
Milan briefly threatened on the counter-attack as Rafael Leao’s shot brought a decent save from Yann Sommer, but at the other end Thuram side-footed agonisingly wide after a neat exchange of passes with Nicolo Barella.
Sommer was called into action again to save a goalbound effort from Calabria and the ball was quickly swept down field to allow Henrikh Mkhitaryan to test the reactions of Maignan, who proved equal to the task.
Inter had to wait just four minutes after the interval to extend their lead however, Thuram taking full advantage of the Milan defence backing off to fire a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Milan offered little in the way of an attacking threat until 10 minutes from the end when substitute Samuel Chukwueze’s cross was headed back across goal by Leao, Matteo Gabbia’s header was turned on to the post by Sommer and Tomori was ideally placed to head into the empty net.
Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham wins Laureus award
Jude Bellingham joined Novak Djokovic and Aitana Bonmati as the big winners at the Laureus World Sports Awards as the England midfielder won the World Breakthrough of the Year prize in Madrid.
Bellingham became the first footballer to claim the honour the day after scoring Real Madrid’s late winner in their 3-2 El Clasico victory over Barcelona.
The 20-year-old has had an outstanding first season at Real since joining from Borussia Dortmund last summer, scoring 21 goals in all competitions.
Djokovic was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record-equalling fifth time after winning the Australian Open, French Open and US Open to lead the way with 24 grand slam men’s singles titles.
“I am incredibly honoured to have won my fifth Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award,” said Djokovic.
“I think back to 2012, when I won it for the first time as a 24-year-old. I am very proud to be here 12 years later, reflecting on a year that brought me and my fans a lot of excitement and success.
“It was thrilling to return to Australia last January and win my 10th title. It is a tournament that is so dear to my heart and set me up for an incredible 12 months.
“I could not have achieved so much success without an incredible team behind me, and inspirational rivals who have always pushed me to be the best version of myself.”
Bonmati took to the stage twice to collect two awards – the first footballer to win the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year trophy and also represent the Spain team which won the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
She said: “It is humbling to see the list of previous winners of this award.
“From Serena Williams to Simone Biles, Lindsey Vonn, Naomi Osaka and last year’s winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, they are all incredible athletes who have not only excelled in their chosen sports, but been incredible role models for younger generations of young women and girls.
“As the first women’s team to win the Laureus, we are proud of our status as pioneers and as a group we are as committed to equality and representation as we are to what we do on the football pitch.”
American gymnast Biles, a three-time winner of Sportswoman of the Year, won the World Comeback of the Year Award.
Biles collected four gold medals at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, her first global event since leaving the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health issues and entering a near two-year break from the sport she had dominated.
Other award winners were Rafael Nadal (Sport for Good), Diede de Groot (World Sportsperson of the Year with a disability) and Arisa Trew (World Action Sportsperson of the Year).
:: The 25th Laureus World Sports Awards took place on Monday 22 April in Madrid, celebrating the leading names in sport from across the globe. To find out more, visit www.laureus.com.
FA seeks ‘formal observations’ from Forest trio over comments about officiating
Nottingham Forest face the threat of Football Association and Premier League charges over their extraordinary attack on the officiating of their match against Everton on Sunday.
Three Forest members of staff – head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, referee analyst Mark Clattenburg and full-back Neco Williams – have been asked by the FA to explain comments they made about the refereeing at Goodison Park, while the Premier League is also examining the club’s social media post which appeared to question the integrity of VAR Stuart Attwell.
The statements from the authorities came within hours of Forest demanding the release of VAR audio related to the rejection of three penalty appeals during their 2-0 defeat.
Forest first issued a club statement on X on Sunday, minutes after the final whistle, in which they said they had “warned” referees’ chief Howard Webb that Attwell “is a Luton fan” but that no change was made to the match appointment.
The club went further on Monday evening and called on Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) to change its rules on officials’ allegiances to account for “contextual rivalries in the league table”, not just local rivalries.
The Premier League said it was “extremely disappointed” by the statement issued on Sunday and added: “It is never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials, and the nature of these comments means the Premier League will also be investigating the matter in relation to the league’s rules.”
Sources have since told PA that Clattenburg did contact Webb on Friday to share that he thought Nuno might be asked about Attwell by the media, but that Forest did not raise Attwell’s appointment as a concern or make a request to change the appointment.
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