Inter’s controversial defeat to Juventus in 2018 was watched in horror by the late Diego Maradona, his son has revealed.
The Nerazzurri went down 3-2 in a dramatic Derby d’Italia at San Siro, paving the way for Juve to win the Serie A title ahead of Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli.
Maradona was far from impressed with referee Daniele Orsato’s failure to send off Miralem Pjanic after a high tackle on Rafinha, but he was not at all surprised to see the Bianconeri receive a favourable decision in a big match.
In an interview with Canale 8 on Wednesday, Diego Jr recalled: “I saw that match with Dad in Dubai.
“Juventus were being outplayed, but when Pjanic stayed on after the incident with Rafinha he turned to me and said: ‘You’ll see now that they find a way to let them win it.’
“And so it proved.
“I couldn’t believe it, Diego saw things before we did.
“We’re humans and he was from another world.”
Inter looked set for a miraculous victory over their arch rivals, after Luciano Spalletti’s side recovered from Matias Vecino’s early red card to lead 2-1 in the closing stages.
But Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the final 10 minutes to secure victory for Juve, keeping the Old Lady four points clear of Napoli with three games remaining.
Spalletti nonetheless guided Inter to their first UEFA Champions League qualification four weeks later, courtesy of an extraordinary 3-2 win at Lazio on the final day of the season.
