Conte vs Inter Milan: post-match firestorm erupts again

Tension flares after Napoli’s win: Marotta’s words and Conte’s fiery response spark a new feud with Inter Milan

Napoli vs Inter Milan isn’t over yet. After the controversy surrounding the penalty decision and president Marotta’s post-match comments, Napoli coach Antonio Conte poured more fuel on the fire. Inter Milan were far from pleased with his words.

“Neither the long hours that have passed since the drama at the Maradona nor the birthday cake prepared for Cristian Chivu’s 45th could lighten Inter Milan’s mood or erase the lingering bitterness with which they left Naples on Saturday night. 

The team still hasn’t digested what happened — the penalty that even the AIA later confirmed was a mistake — but what irritated them even more were the clashes and accusations that followed the game,” writes La Gazzetta dello Sport via Fcinter1908.

The old wounds between Conte and Inter Milan resurface, turning post-match comments into another heated chapter of their stormy history

The focus in the Inter Milan camp is squarely on Conte — the former Nerazzurri coach who won the club’s last Scudetto and who once again dictated the pace of a big match like a master ring-leader. “While the on-field altercation between Conte and his former player Lautaro Martínez was quickly filed under ‘things that happen,’ Inter Milan refuse to overlook the coach’s later comments — deemed inappropriate both in tone and substance. 

From dragging Chivu into the debate, despite the Romanian’s display of fair play and refusal to attack officials, to directly targeting Marotta — ‘the director who escalates things’ — everything was seen as out of line by the Nerazzurri hierarchy.”

Marotta, after the match, had said: “Napoli’s penalty changed the game. We need clarity — Rocchi said ‘no more soft penalties.’” 

When Conte was told of those remarks, he fired back sharply: “I would never have allowed one of my directors — or my president — to speak like that. It undermines the coach’s authority. I’ve always defended myself; I don’t need a daddy.”

Sources say Conte believed Chivu wouldn’t speak to the media at all, assuming Marotta would be the only voice representing Inter Milan. 

After all, the two men share a complicated history — full of goodbyes, reconciliations, brief harmony and long-standing friction.

Now, each sees the other as public enemy number one. Yet Conte and Inter Milan once shared mutual admiration, albeit briefly, during their turbulent 2019–21 partnership shadowed by the COVID era. 

Conte’s Inter Milan, a powerhouse machine, won the club’s 19th Scudetto and laid the groundwork for future success. At the club’s headquarters, his contribution is still recognized — but relations have long since broken down.

The definitive split came in May 2021, after the title triumph but amid the club’s financial crisis. Conte refused to accept what he saw as a “downsizing” of the project and walked away with a hefty €7 million (£5.9 million) severance. 

Since then, Inter Milan’s path under Inzaghi — and now Chivu — has proved him wrong: the team has stayed competitive, achieved European glory, and added the historic second star.

Still, Conte couldn’t resist a jab after Napoli’s win: “Inter Milan are the strongest team; they could have won more over these four years.” That remark didn’t sit well in Milan, especially since insiders recall how often the same Conte once demanded more public backing from his bosses during tough times — from the Dortmund collapse in 2019 to the Parma draw in 2020.

In short, the story between Conte and Inter Milan is far from finished. The rivalry, the tension, the memories — all remain alive. And with another Scudetto race underway, new chapters in this fiery saga are bound to be written soon.