Napoli coach Antonio Conte criticized the video assistant referee (VAR) for not intervening to overturn a penalty that Inter Milan’s Hakan Calhanoglu ultimately missed in their match. 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Napoli earned a point at the San Siro to maintain their lead at the top of Serie A in what is shaping up to be a tight title race. Conte’s team has 26 points, one more than Atalanta, Fiorentina, Inter and Lazio.

While Turkish midfielder Calhanoglu failed to convert the penalty, Napoli coach Conte criticized VAR for not overturning the referee’s decision to penalize Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa for a foul on Denzel Dumfries.

“Can they (VAR) intervene only when it suits them? A referee’s decision like this can transform a match and VAR can’t do anything about it,” Conte told DAZN.

“Either the VAR is there to correct errors or not. If there is an error, it has to intervene. It makes me very angry, but it happens to all coaches: it has to intervene if there is an error.

“If there is VAR, it should be used to correct errors or show the referee situations that he did not see. If it is a clear error, and it was, then why should (referee Maurizio) Mariani be allowed to do that?”

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Despite his frustration with the refereeing decisions, Conte was satisfied with his team’s performance against the Italian champions.

“I said that we would not come here just to be training partners against the strongest team in Serie A, that’s why it was important for us to face them with strength, character, accepting duels all over the field,” he said.

“In that sense I am very satisfied. It was not easy to play here, we all know that we are improving and working hard, otherwise you do not come to San Siro twice and also against Juventus without losing.

“The boys are proving themselves, although of course today we could have done much, much more in terms of quality. There were too many mistakes, too many technical errors, but I am sure there will be more improvements.”