Antonio Conte wanted to teach Lautaro Martinez a lesson by calling him out during Inter’s 3-1 win over Roma, according to assistant boss Cristian Stellini.
Lautaro was taken off with 13 minutes left at San Siro and reacted angrily to his substitution, kicking a water bottle over his teammates in frustration.
Conte reacted furiously to El Toro’s thunderous facial expression and told him in no uncertain terms to stay quiet, before refocusing his attention on the match.
“This is something that also happened to me when I was being coached by Conte 14 years ago (at Bari),” Stellini revealed in his post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia.
“He took me off after 20 minutes (and I reacted badly).
“This is an example of our quest for the mentality we want, even when the game is won we expect all players to give everything.
“I went through it 14 years ago, now Lautaro has had it done to him too.
“At that moment, Lautaro wasn’t holding up well and we always want to be on the ball mentally.
“These things will remain on the pitch, everything has already passed and we’re thinking about the next game.”
Conte and Lautaro’s argument is unlikely to go any further than that, with both caught up in the heat of the match, but it shows Conte has no intention of letting anyone step out of line until the end of the season.
Andrea Pinamonti replaced Lautaro for the closing stages and nearly scored his second goal in two games, only to clip the ball over the bar from inside the box.
Inter secured all three points anyway thanks to goals from Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino and Romelu Lukaku.
