Juventus had a television camera fixed on Inter coach Antonio Conte throughout Tuesday’s Coppa Italia semi-final second leg, according to an Italian journalist today.
Shortly after the final whistle in Turin, a video emerged on social media which showed Conte giving the middle finger to Juventus owner Andrea Agnelli as the Nerazzurri boss walked towards the tunnel before half-time.
Conte was retaliating after he had been reportedly subjected to constant insults and provocations during the first half, both from Agnelli and other Juventus chiefs, yet it was only his one gesture which ended up on the internet.
Rai Sport’s Alessandro Antinelli was working at the match in Turin and explained how Juventus made sure they wouldn’t miss any potentially incriminating evidence to use against Conte, while making sure none of their own behaviour was shown to the public.
“That video started circulating on social media at about a quarter past midnight,” Antinelli explained to Telelombardia today.
“I had to do a report for the morning news and I wanted to understand how this footage of Conte showing the finger hadn’t been broadcast before on TV.
“I discovered that in my production van at Rai, this footage had not been seen, because that was footage taken from a ‘dedicated’ camera.
“That footage was from another production to that of Rai, it came from Juventus’ own production van.”
In short, this meant Juventus were responsible for releasing the footage of Conte using his middle finger, having filmed him throughout the match in case he did anything like that.
When asked about the tension between Conte and Agnelli during his post-game interview, the Inter boss told reporters that the fourth official knew everything that had happened while he was being insulted pitch-side.
And yet, as Antinelli pointed out, Daniele Chiffi still somehow didn’t note anything in the match officials’ report.
“Looking back at the game, you can see how at a certain point Conte speaks very calmly with the fourth official and seems to say to him: ‘Are you listening to what they tell me? Are you noting everything down?’
“Conte told me ‘the fourth official knows everything’, but then there was nothing in the report.”
The Italian Football Federation yesterday opened an investigation into the skirmishes during the Derby d’Italia, for which Conte and Agnelli could potentially receive retrospective punishment.
