‘The Boot’ is on fire after the first leg of the semi-final of the Italian Cup. Inter Milan managed to equalize after Bremer’s reckless reaction and the penalty that Romelu Lukaku converted into the final 1-1. After the clash itself the most talk about the conflict between the players, the red cards for the Belgian, Samir Handanović and Juan Cuadrado, and above all about a new case of racism in Italian football.At first it was suspected, later it was confirmed by video evidence that Lukaku was hit with monkey chants from the fans, which angered everyone sick of such scenes in the third millennium… The striker celebrated the goal by silencing the crowd, which was actually his reaction to the racist attack he suffered shortly after entering the pitch and earning his first yellow card. The biggest Italian derby remained in the shadow of this unfortunate event, and the public is only talking about it…##EDITORS_CHOICE##Big Rom entered the field in the 69th minute and seemed highly motivated and aggressive as if he wanted to make up for his poor performance against Fiorentina at the weekend, although that quickly went to his head. After a tackle on Federico Gatti, he earned a yellow card, after which part of the ardent supporters of the Old Lady “targeted” him with monkey chants. After this scene, Lukaku had more motivation to shake the net, which he did in the fifth minute of stoppage time, and when he put his index finger in front of his nose and mouth in a manner to silence the spectators, there was a commotion on the field. Referee Davide Massa sent off the Belgian after showing him a second yellow card, while in a separate conflict after the end of the match, Samir Handanović and Juan Cuadrado were given red cards.After the game, Simone Inzaghi, who is under a lot of pressure due to poor results recently, spoke about how Inter were “robbed” after two sending-offs.”It’s clear that we all heard the racist chants, but I look at the bigger picture because Lukaku celebrates the goal every time in the same way, that’s what happened now. Now I have to look at the situation with a calm head, because we have been robbed of important players. The match was extremely calm and fair until the 95th minute. Lukaku’s celebration was misunderstood, but it caused ugly scenes, which is why we are left without two important players for the second leg,” Inzaghi said.Lukaku scores, celebrates the way he always does, shouts two things against the racists slurs against him, he’s the first to leave the penalty area. The referee who hasn’t seen anything runs after him to give him a yellow? Why? pic.twitter.com/dx54CsUKbs— Siavoush Fallahi (@SiavoushF) April 4, 2023 While the coach of Inter talked about the “robbing” of his team, the captain of Bianconeri Danilo underlined that Romelu Lukaku was justifiably excluded.”It’s very easy, Lukaku scored, and then by making a gesture to silence our fans, it was easy for the referee to punish him. He already had a yellow card and the decision is completely correct,” says Danilo and continues:”People, this is the Derby of Italy, the semi-final of the Cup, it’s not a normal game. The nerves are more tense than usual, there is a great rivalry between the teams, I believe that all this is normal. I simply can’t waste my energy on such things, we have to focus on the fact that we weren’t doing good during the match, and that we still have 90 minutes of football waiting for us to enter the final.”Asked if he should have reacted to the sparks that happened between Cuadrado and Handanovic, the Brazilian replied:”Juan is 34, he will soon turn 35. It’s not my responsibility to separate him. He also knows what his responsibilities are, we will talk about it among ourselves, in the dressing room, and there is no reason for me to talk to you about it.”Ecco il gancio di Cuadrado ad Handanovic.Va proprio a segno.Questo è un gesto da 5 giornate di squalifica.Se non ricordo male in caso di comportamento violento grave in Coppa Italia le squalifiche sono state estese in campionato#JuveInter pic.twitter.com/kY1cMP2s7I— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) April 4, 2023 After what happened, the agency that represents Lukaku also reacted, asking Juventus to apologize for the racist behavior of his supporters publicly.”Lukaku was attacked directly by monkey chants. Before, during and after the penalty, he was the target of racist attacks, Romelu celebrated in the same manner as every previous goal. The referee’s response was to penalize Lukaku again. Romelu deserves an apology from Juventus and I expect Serie A to condemn the behavior of the Juventus fan group immediately. The Italian authorities should use this situation to attack racism again, and not to punish the victim of it,” the statement said.The second leg of the semifinals will be played at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on April 26.COPPA ITALIASemi-final, first legTuesdayJuventus – Inter 1-1 (0-0)/Cuadrado 83 – Lukaku 90+5 pen/Wednesday22.00: (4.70) Cremonese (3.50) Fiorentina (1.80)***odds are subject to change
