Marotta: ‘No Lautaro problems, Inter will respond to Allegri’ | OneFootball

Inter director Beppe Marotta assures there are ‘no problems’ discussing Lautaro Martinez’s new contract, while they will ‘respond at the right time’ to Juventus coach Max Allegri’s pointed comments.

The Nerazzurri will face Napoli for the Supercoppa Italiana in Riyadh on Monday at 19.00 GMT.

They won this trophy for the last two years running and are going for the hat-trick, which would also be the fifth Supercoppa won by coach Simone Inzaghi after his two on the Lazio bench.

However, playing in Saudi Arabia means their Serie A fixture against Atalanta has to be rescheduled, so Juventus could beat Lecce this evening and go clear at the top of the table.

“This is the fixture list and we have a game in hand,” Marotta shrugged to RAI Sport.

With recent controversial refereeing decisions allowing Inter to draw with Genoa and beat Verona, Juventus coach Allegri mockingly said the title race was not so much the hare and the hunter, but more ‘cops and robbers.’

“Irony and metaphors are fine in football, the important thing is that there is respect on and off the field, awaiting the February 4 match that everyone calls the Derby d’Italia.”

Marotta, who worked with Allegri for many years at Juventus, was asked if the coach had been trying to insinuate something with that phrase.

“I always lean in favour of someone acting in good faith. Allegri is certainly interpreting the role in his own environment. We will respond at the right time.”

Inter crushed Lazio 3-0 in the Supercoppa semi-final on Friday and the players said they are enjoying their football under Inzaghi.

“We saw football of great quality, that is down to the coach who drilled a winning mentality into the players, but also the players themselves who are the protagonists on the pitch. We must never forget the principal objective is to win.

“A strong team always has a strong club behind it with a series of directors and others who are not in the spotlight, but work to put the side in the best condition to deliver. After that, we have a leader like Inzaghi who in my view is a young coach with a luminous career ahead of him.”

Lautaro Martinez has reiterated many times that he wants to extend his contract with Inter, so what is holding up the confirmation?

“We had to stop the talks due to all these fixtures. The important thing is that both parties in the negotiations want to continue this rapport, so there should be no problems,” concluded Marotta.