Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi made little effort to hide his feelings as he spoke after guiding the team to the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Porto, aiming his digs at the club and at his predecessor Antonio Conte.
This is highlighted in today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews, who suggest that the 46-year-old got a lot off his chest as he defended what he has done as Nerazzurri coach.
Speaking to the media after Tuesday’s match in Porto, Inzaghi made the comment that Inter have won one Serie A title over the past twelve years, and have essentially been paying for it ever since.
This was hardly a cryptic remark from the coach.
The former Lazio coach took over right at the point where Inter’s spending came to a screeching halt and in fact reversed into a situation where the financial targets were big net profits from the transfer market.
For Tuttosport, the coach has always held a certain resentment at this fact despite the fact that he has never really publicly professed it.
After Tuesday’s match, the 46-year-old let the mask slip a little, as he aimed some barely-veiled barbs at his predecessor Conte.
If the former coach had won the Scudetto that has become the yardstick against which Inzaghi’s current work is now measured, Inzaghi feels that the main reason that that Scudetto arrived is that his predecessor received lavish financial backing to build a squad capable of going all the way.
The former Biancocelesti coach, in contrast, has had to work in conditions of financial austerity, and behind the scenes has always been asked to target top four in the Serie A table rather than the title.
The fact that he has done that, Inzaghi feels, means that he is hardly an inferior coach who’s done a lesser job than the man he replaced as coach regardless of the failure to follow up on the title win in the 2020-21 season.
Moreover, the fact that former Nerazzurri coach Conte is now struggling with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, and was recently dumped out of the Champions League by AC Milan, provides further background for Inzaghi’s comments.
Whereas Conte has always had a reputation for faltering in Europe despite his exemplary domestic performances, something which was certainly the case during his spell in charge of Inter, Inzaghi has gotten impressive results in the Champions League in recent seasons.
The 46-year-old has guided the Nerazzurri to the last eight of the competition for the first time in twelve years, and it is from this position of strength that he has finally aired a bit of his grievances regarding what he feels are unfair comparisons with Conte.
