Juventus staff were urging their players to give away a free kick so Leonardo Bonucci could come on for the penalty shoot-out, but were caught out by Inter’s Alexis Sanchez winner in the Supercoppa Italiana.
According to Sport Mediaset, who were covering the game at San Siro with their touchline reporters, Max Allegri and his assistants were shouting at players to ‘foul someone’ and give away a free kick at the 120th minute.
Supercoppa | Inter 2-1 Juventus aet: Alexis Sanchez last-gasp winner
This was so that play could be halted and Bonucci could be introduced as a substitute, purely so he could take a penalty in the shoot-out.
However, it never got that far, because Alexis Sanchez pounced on an Alex Sandro defensive error and scored the winner for Inter in the final seconds of the game.
If true, that would suggest the Juve defenders were distracted during those moments of the match and already had their minds on the shoot-out.
Weston McKennie had given Juve the lead with a header, cancelled out by the Lautaro Martinez penalty, forcing extra time at 1-1.