Inter boss Antonio Conte was accused today of trying to sabotage Christian Eriksen in last night’s Coppa Italia match at Juventus.
Eriksen started alongside Marcelo Brozovic for the Nerazzurri’s semi-final second leg at the Allianz Stadium, which ended in a goalless draw and sent the Old Lady through to the final.
In his latest column for Corriere della Sera, Italian football writer Mario Sconcerti offered a highly cynical theory on why Conte opted to start the 28-year-old in Turin.
“Personally, I have a malicious idea that Conte wanted to involve Eriksen in Inter’s Coppa Italia exit so he can use it as proof of his doubts over the player’s ability,” Sconcerti argued.
“It would end the rehabilitation period Eriksen was enjoying after his goal against AC Milan in the derby.
“Eriksen took all of Inter’s set pieces against Juventus – not well – and did nothing else.”
Inter were unable to overturn their 2-1 deficit from last week’s first leg as the sides played out a turgid 0-0 in Turin.
Sconcerti was far from impressed with the spectacle on display during the sides’ third Derby d’Italia meeting in the last month.
“It was a fake match,” he suggested.
“Juve didn’t make a serious attempt to win it while Inter almost seemed to settle for going out of the tournament in a dignified manner.
“The proof of this is the fact there were no shots on target, apart from the two from Cristiano Ronaldo after some great play.
“Ronaldo was the only player above par.”
Sconcerti then went on to comment on the respective performances of Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Achraf Hakimi on Tuesday.
“Lukaku’s performance lacked substance while Lautaro was more busy but without any output,” he added.
“Hakimi is never trivial, his mere presence kept two Juventus players busy on their left-hand side, but not even he had a moment of real determination.”
Inter return to league action on Sunday when Conte’s side welcome in-form Lazio to San Siro for matchday 22 of Serie A.
