Conte: 'Sarri on powerful side now'

By Football Italia staff

Inter and Juventus are already starting the war of words, with Antonio Conte telling Maurizio Sarri to “calm down, as he’s on the powerful side now.”

The Nerazzurri beat 10-man Udinese 1-0 to retain their 100 per cent record, breaking two points clear of Juve, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Fiorentina.

Sarri had commented that it wasn’t easy to play in the heat of mid-afternoon in Florence, which he feels might’ve contributed to the fact Douglas Costa, Miralem Pjanic and Danilo all limped off.

When Conte was holding his Press conference, reporters rather cheekily told the Inter boss about the ‘complaint’ from Sarri.

“I don’t want to say anything, otherwise we’ll have to start comparing balance sheets and financial resources,” smiled Conte.

“Someone ought to calm down, as he’s on the powerful side now.”

The reference was to when Sarri battled Juventus for the Scudetto two years ago as Coach of Napoli, but hit the headlines for protesting that Juve were always scheduled to play after his own team, which he believed was an unfair advantage.

Sarri also repeatedly stated that Napoli could not compete with Juventus in terms of financial capabilities.

Now that he has worked at Chelsea and returned to Serie A on the Bianconeri bench, those ‘excuses’ are no longer applicable.

At the same time, Conte is a former Juventus player and Coach who has faced pressure from Inter fans to renege his Bianconeri past.

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