The Coppa Italia semis between Juventus and Inter Milan had a fraught end on Tuesday evening. According to Inter coach Simone Inzaghi, the second yellow card for Romelu Lukaku in particular is based on a misunderstanding.
Inter feels robbed by an ugly ending: “Lukaku always cheers like that”
What happened is that Lukaku’s cheering was misunderstood. He always cheers that way,” said Inzaghi. “Unfortunately it led to an ugly display that was not fun to watch and will deprive us of starting lineup players like Lukaku and Handanovic in the second meeting.”
On April 26, it will be decided who will face Cremonese or Fiorentina in the final of the Italian Cup, without Lukaku and goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, who, like Juve player Juan Cuadrado, also got red later.
Lukaku saw yellow for a second time after celebrating the equalizer deep in stoppage time by putting his finger to his mouth towards the Juve crowd. Afterwards, Inzaghi was asked about claims that racist slogans sounded from the stands to which Lukaku would have responded. “Obviously we felt that, but I go beyond that and see a player who scores, celebrates and it all happened from there. Lukaku’s cheering, always acting like this, robs us of an important player,” he said.
Danilo seemed to think the red card for Juan Cuadrado was justified
Juventus defender Danilo thought the second yellow card for Lukaku was justified, he told Sport Mediaset. “It was very simple, Lukaku scored, he made a gesture to silence our fans and then it’s easy for the referee to punish him. He already had a yellow card and I think it was the right decision.”
“Guys, it’s Juventus – Inter, the Coppa Italia semi-final. This is not a normal match. Tempers are always a little high. There is a strong rivalry. I think that’s normal.” continued Danilo, who also seemed to think the red card for Juan Cuadrado was justified. “Cuadrado is 34 years old, almost 35, so it is not my responsibility to take Cuadrado away. He knows he has a responsibility, we will talk about it amongst ourselves in the dressing room. And I certainly won’t share all of that here.”
