Conte: ‘Press should be ashamed’

Antonio Conte revealed Inter are taking legal action against the Corriere dello Sport, while the press association “ought to be ashamed.”

The situation erupted on Saturday when Conte suddenly cancelled the planned press conference in protest at the letters page of the Corriere dello Sport.

Antonio Conte revealed Inter are taking legal action against the Corriere dello Sport, while the press association “ought to be ashamed.”

The situation erupted on Saturday when Conte suddenly cancelled the planned press conference in protest at the letters page of the Corriere dello Sport.

It published an email from a Bologna fan noting he was “relishing” Inter’s Champions League elimination, calling Conte “clapped out” and other insulting terms.

The issue Inter seem most aggrieved with is the fact the Corriere editor did not contest the email in its response, if anything adding to the disrespectful tone.

“It is all being handled by the lawyers,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia this evening.

“It was not my choice, it was Inter who took it personally. If you want to set an example, we need to do it broadly and send a signal to everyone, not just individuals.”

However, the Italian press union joined in with a statement demanding Conte apologise for locking everyone out of the planned conference rather than just the Corriere dello Sport.

“There has to be respect, it was genuinely surprising and absurd to see the press association demand my apology. They ought to be ashamed of themselves,” continued the coach.

“The papers are going too far. One day they publish a front page on racism that makes us a laughing stock all over the world. Another day they publish a letter a day before Sinisa Mihajlovic announces he was ill, even when he asked them not to.

“We have to put some brakes on here. Just because someone has a pen, they don’t get to just write whatever they want.

“Inter want to look into this so-called email, because it might be a fake and they want to know what is at the bottom of it.”