Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has revealed that midfielders Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu asked to be substituted due to injury in yesterday’s 2-2 draw against Monza.
The Nerazzurri were held to the stalemate in Serie A at the U-Power Stadium, but had even greater cause for concern when Calhanoglu was followed by Barella in being withdrawn in the second half after complaining of discomfort.
Speaking in his press conference after the match, and as reported by FCInterNews.it, Inzaghi gave an update on the two midfielders, and sought to defend striker Romelu Lukaku after the Belgian failed to impress after coming off the bench in the second half.
“They asked to come off, let’s hope it’s nothing serious. It seems to be two cases of soreness,” Inzaghi said of Barella and Calhanoglu.
“Time will tell when we see Lukaku back. He’s training in the best possible way, he played a very good game against Napoli.
“It wasn’t easy to enter the pitch like that today, the more he works, the better he’ll improve. Even if it’s difficult to talk about these things now, we have to make a clearer analysis tomorrow.”
Inter were left fuming after seeing a Francesco Acerbi goal disallowed at 2-1 up for a Roberto Gagliardini push, only for replays to show that Monza defender Pablo Mari had been tripped by teammate Armando Izzo.
As the referee had blown the whistle before Acerbi had turned the ball in, VAR was unable to intervene and Inzaghi made his feelings clear on the refereeing mistake, but wouldn’t be drawn on whether the club’s management would offer any communication regarding the incident.
“They will see it and decide, they are very good at that. I made my judgement, we faced a team of value, who are well coached.
“We had to suffer together, then at 2-1 there was Lautaro’s effort on the post and a clear error on the disallowed goal.
“After five years of VAR an error penalised us and we should be talking about something else. There is a lot of disappointment on everyone’s part.”
The former Lazio coach refused to reveal whether his anger was focused on himself or on referee Juan Luca Sacchi.
“I don’t need to say that.”
Inzaghi felt that the error had cost his side dearly, despite coming up against a good team in Monza, but wanted to focus on the Coppa Italia match against Parma on Tuesday.
“We lost a little something in the second half, before that there was nothing. Monza are a well coached team, but without the mistake there would not have been this question.
“There is great disappointment for a draw that slows us down, now we start again. On Tuesday there is another match, then another one after.”
Inter have now matched league leaders Napoli’s total number of goals scored, but Inzaghi saw little relevance to this with the Nerazzurri trailing by seven points, having played a game more.
“I care little, congratulations to Monza but without that mistake we would have won,” he added.
