Simone Inzaghi explains why Romelu Lukaku should not have been punished for his goal celebration against the Juventus fans and maintains Inter ‘dominated for 90 minutes’ in the 1-1 Coppa Italia semi-final.
The Coppa Italia semi-final will all be decided at San Siro on April 26, because as the away goals rule no longer applies from this season, the 1-1 first leg result leaves everything in the balance.
Juan Cuadrado had made the most of a defensive error to open the scoring, but with 20 seconds left of stoppages, Gleison Bremer’s handling offence allowed Lukaku to convert a penalty to equalise.
“What happened is that Lukaku’s celebration was misunderstood. He always celebrates like that, unfortunately it sparked an ugly scene that was not nice to see and will deprive us of fundamental players like Lukaku and Handanovic in the second leg,” Inzaghi told Sport Mediaset.
The Belgian celebrated by making ‘silence’ gestures towards the fans behind Mattia Perin’s goal, prompting a second yellow card – the first was for hacking down Federico Gatti with a late tackle.
After the final whistle, another brawl erupted between Samir Handanovic and Cuadrado – seeing both sent off – and the tension reportedly continued in the tunnel.
Inzaghi was asked about reports that there were racist chants from the Juventus fans that Lukaku was reacting to.
“Clearly, we sensed that, but I go beyond that and see a player who scores, celebrates and it all happened from there. Now I have to be clear-minded and think that Lukaku’s celebration, which he always does like that, robs us of an important player.
“The game had been very calm and fair until the 95th minute.”
When these sides met in Serie A only a couple of weeks ago, there was another fight after the final whistle, so evidently the bitterness between them is only getting worse.
“It was a great performance, my judgement won’t change at the final result, it was a difficult match against a tough opponent, we controlled the match for almost a full 90 minutes and unfortunately were unable to score earlier with the important chances.
“We conceded a goal we really should’ve avoided, but the lads were solid, aggressive, exactly what I had asked. It’s a good sign in a difficult moment for us, it is only the first round and we’ll have home advantage in the second leg. We care about this competition and know a victory will send us to another Final.
“We certainly should’ve closed Rabiot down earlier, there were two players who didn’t block the cross, then Cuadrado was in space and we were unable to clear. There were 15 minutes to go, we shouldn’t have conceded that goal, especially as there were precious few signs of Juve scoring before that.
“As I said, I am very, very satisfied with the performance, which was aggressive and determined. With all that we created, the result could’ve been different, but we have to look at the positive. Even if we had lost 1-0, my evaluation of the performance would not have changed.”
Inter have shown a tendency in recent weeks to have many attempts, but very few of them even troubling the opposition goalkeeper.
“In 2023 it has been a problem, as last season we had the most prolific team in Serie A. It has affected us, for example against Fiorentina and Spezia, where we had more territorial domination and chances, so deserved better results.”
Inter, Juventus and Fiorentina are the only sides still in three tournaments, so will play a total of nine games during the 30 days of April.
“We are accustomed to a packed fixture list, but perhaps a Coppa Italia semi-final and Champions League quarter-final usually aren’t so close together.”
Nerazzurri fans had protested after three consecutive Serie A defeats, so have they broken away from Inzaghi and the squad?
“Absolutely not, our fans are unique and irreplaceable. The Curva never let us down. Naturally, we are Inter and they expect better results, they want more from the club and everyone, I think tonight we saw a very good response.”