{"id":80905,"date":"2025-05-07T04:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T04:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/80905\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T04:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T04:17:15","slug":"shocking-moment-barcelonas-inigo-martinez-appears-to-spit-on-inter-milan-rival-francesco-acerbi-during-heated-champions-league-clash-and-var-cleared-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/80905\/","title":{"rendered":"Shocking moment Barcelona&#8217;s Inigo Martinez appears to SPIT on Inter Milan rival Francesco Acerbi during heated Champions League clash &#8211; and VAR cleared it"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>The alleged incident took place just before half-time with Inter 2-0 up at home\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Barcelona hit back with a vengeance after the break but the hosts won the night\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><strong>LISTEN NOW: <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dailymail.lnk.to\/its-all-kicking-offDM\">It&#8217;s All Kicking Off! <\/a>Arsenal need to sign players for the here and now to win the Premier League&#8230; so, should they sign Harry Kane?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-684\/tamara-prenn.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TAMARA PRENN<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  18:50 EDT, 6 May 2025   |  Updated:  19:26 EDT, 6 May 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">An on-pitch fight just before half-time during <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/inter-milan\/index.html\" id=\"mol-bfc4f560-2ac7-11f0-9404-8d1136b32cd0\" rel=\"noopener\">Inter Milan<\/a>&#8216;s thrilling <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/champions_league\/index.html\" id=\"mol-bfccbd90-2ac7-11f0-9404-8d1136b32cd0\" rel=\"noopener\">Champions League<\/a> triumph over visitors <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/fc-barcelona\/index.html\" id=\"mol-bfc40b00-2ac7-11f0-9404-8d1136b32cd0\" rel=\"noopener\">Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0appeared to have been sparked by Inigo Martinez spitting on Francesco Acerbi.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The hosts returned to the San Siro after a breathless first-leg on the road left the tie level at 3-3 going into the decider on Tuesday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It took very little time for Inter to assert their dominance, with Simone Inzaghi&#8217;s side going ahead via a goal by <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/lautaro-martinez\/index.html\" id=\"mol-8ae01620-2ac9-11f0-9404-8d1136b32cd0\" rel=\"noopener\">Lautaro Martinez<\/a> in the 21st minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Inter doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, with Hakan Calhanoglu stepping up to strike from the spot after <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-14684873\/Is-penalty-Barcelona-fume-VAR-awards-Inter-Milan-controversial-spotkick-Pau-Cubarsis-challenge-Lautaro-Martinez.html\" rel=\"noopener\">he was brought down in the box minutes earlier by Pau Cubarsi<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But as viewers at home watched replayed footage of the penalty decision and Calhanoglu coolly slotting his effort past Wojciech Szczesny, when live action returned the players on the pitch were in disarray.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Members of both sides appeared to be in dispute with the referee Szymon Marciniak, with commentary describing the possibility of VAR intervening to give a red card.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-a563cf5b26be7a2a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107987-14685211-Inigo_Martinez_yellow_and_green_kit_appeared_to_spit_on_Francesc-a-17_174657382809.jpeg\" height=\"500\" width=\"306\" alt=\"Inigo Martinez (yellow and green kit) appeared to spit on Francesco Acerbi in the aftermath of Inter Milan's penalty\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>    <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-6bc7e1f7c25df459\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107985-14685211-Viewers_from_home_instead_watched_replayed_footage_of_the_penalt-a-16_174657382809.jpeg\" height=\"500\" width=\"306\" alt=\"Viewers from home instead watched replayed footage of the penalty kick\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Inigo Martinez (yellow and green kit) appeared to spit on Francesco Acerbi in the aftermath of Inter Milan&#8217;s penalty, sparking a furious row at the end of the first half at the San Siro<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-595219bd8b583fb2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107851-14685211-image-a-4_1746570835010.jpg\" height=\"484\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Acerbi was incensed and called upon referee\u00a0Szymon Marciniak to punish the player (centre)\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Acerbi was incensed and called upon referee\u00a0Szymon Marciniak to punish the player (centre)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">While all 22 players stayed on the pitch, after full-time on the eventual 4-3 classic new footage came to light of Martinez seeming to spit at his rival after the penalty was awarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Pictures from the San Siro show Acerbi appealing to Marciniak, with a group of Barcelona players clustered around their team-mate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Footage from the stadium appears even more damning, with Martinez allegedly spitting towards Acerbi as the Italian runs past him into the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Discussing the potential incident after the final whistle, Wayne Rooney on Amazon Prime stressed that if Martinez was found to have spat on his rival, UEFA would be quick to intervene.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;You certainly don&#8217;t want to see that in a football game or anywhere,&#8217; the Manchester United legend said. &#8216;If he has spat, then he&#8217;ll get a punishment that he&#8217;ll deserve.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Co-pundit Daniel Sturridge added: &#8216;Absolutely right. If he&#8217;s done that, then it&#8217;s not good &#8211; it&#8217;s not necessary, it&#8217;s not needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;We&#8217;ll let the people do their job and see if he&#8217;s actually done it.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Acerbi, however, had the last laugh &#8211; despite no action being taken after the decision went to VAR.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-757691c432f296dc\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107891-14685211-image-a-12_1746570881302.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The Inter Milan defender had to be held back by his opponents while VAR reviewed the incident - but it was found that no player had been at fault despite the Italian's furious protestation\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The Inter Milan defender had to be held back by his opponents while VAR reviewed the incident &#8211; but it was found that no player had been at fault despite the Italian&#8217;s furious protestation<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-e868461f42fea951\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107879-14685211-image-a-13_1746570889092.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Acerbi had the last laugh, with the Milanese veteran netting the crucial equaliser for extra-time\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Acerbi had the last laugh, with the Milanese veteran netting the crucial equaliser for extra-time<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-d7c0561f175f15b7\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/98107861-14685211-image-a-14_1746570892184.jpg\" height=\"454\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Inter Milan netted in the 99th minute to book their spot in this year's Champions League final\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Inter Milan netted in the 99th minute to book their spot in this year&#8217;s Champions League final<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Barcelona came out of the starting blocks quickly as play resumed after the break, with Eric Garcia scoring in the 54th minute, with the fightback well and truly restarted when Dani Olmo provided the equaliser just six minutes later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Minutes before normal time, Raphinha put Barcelona in the lead for the first time in the two-legged tie, their spot in the final all but sewn up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But just three minutes into added time, Acerbi was laser-focused inside the box to score his first ever European goal at the age of 37.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Extra-time allowed Inter to find the winner through Davide Frattesi, with the Milanese side booking their second Champions League final in three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DailyMailSport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\" \/><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Shocking moment Barcelona&#8217;s Inigo Martinez appears to SPIT on Inter Milan rival Francesco Acerbi during heated Champions League clash &#8211; and VAR cleared it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The alleged incident took place just before half-time with Inter 2-0 up at home\u00a0 Barcelona hit back with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[199,1614,92,94,8883,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-80905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-champions-league","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-inter-milan","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114464623755834636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}