Juventus defender Danilo gives his version of why Romelu Lukaku was sent off for his Inter goal celebration in the Coppa Italia semi-final. ‘It was very easy for the referee.’
The game ended 1-1 with a stoppage-time Lukaku penalty to cancel out the Juan Cuadrado opener, but the Belgian’s goal celebration prompted a second yellow card.
“It was very simple, Lukaku scored, he made a gesture to silence our fans and it is easy for the referee then to book him. He was already on a yellow card and I think it was the right decision,” Danilo told Sport Mediaset.
“Guys, it’s Juve-Inter, the Coppa Italia semi-final, this is not a normal game. Tempers are always a little high, there is a strong rivalry, I think this type of event is normal.
“I always say we cannot afford to waste energy on that, we need to focus on what we didn’t do right during the match, as there are still 90 minutes for us to earn our place in the Final.”
Gleison Bremer gave away the equaliser with 20 seconds left on the clock with his foolish handling offence on a Denzel Dumfries header.
“He knows he got the ball with his hand, he is young and still needs to learn a lot, we are there to help them all to grow. We win and lose as a team, it wasn’t just Bremer, there were more things we didn’t do right. There are 90 minutes to go and we can still secure qualification.”
Danilo is the captain of Juventus this season and was asked if he should’ve intervened before Cuadrado sparked another brawl at the final whistle, as he was arguing with Samir Handanovic before the fight erupted.
“Cuadrado is 34 years old, almost 35, so it is not my responsibility out of the whole team to pull Cuadrado away. He knows he has a responsibility, we will talk about it between ourselves in the locker room and I will certainly not give all of that to you here.”