The Azzurri coach responded to the Inter president as follows: “I have never asked my presidents to act like fathers or to defend me…”

Antonio Conte’s words cut like a knife. His response to Marotta’s criticism of the referee is harsh. “The difference between Napoli and Inter is that in these cases, a senior executive appears in front of the cameras, whereas here I am the one who comes out. I believe that a great team should ask itself the real reasons why it lost and not appeal to the mistakes of others, because then alibis are created for the environment and the players. As a coach, I would not have allowed one of my executives to do that. For a president to make these comments… With all due respect, he should leave things to those who experienced the game. I have never asked my presidents to act like fathers and defend me,” said the coach after the victory over the Nerazzurri.

During the match, there was a heated exchange with Lautaro Martinez. But Conte downplayed the incident, fondly recalling his years in Milan. “When you play these kinds of games, things can happen. In my two seasons at Inter, I led the team to win the Scudetto, ending Juventus’ nine-year streak, and you know what that club means to me. Lautaro is an excellent player. From a personal point of view, I may not have gotten to know him well, but I wish him all the best for the future.”

the match—  Moving on to the match, the coach’s analysis exudes a certain pride. “We faced a very strong team, in my opinion the best in Italy, which has reached the Champions League final twice in three years. Inter’s squad is out of reach compared to the others. To have won despite all the difficulties, such as today when we were missing Hojlund, Lobotka, Rrahmani, Meret, plus Lukaku and De Bruyne during the game… It’s not really our year, we may have had a bit of bad luck, but we’re fighting back blow for blow. Inter wanted to kill us off, because we were in trouble after the defeats to Torino and PSV, but we don’t want to die, and it turned out to be a tough and vigorous game. We put in an excellent performance,” concluded Conte.