Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 7y

Inter Milan behaviour labelled 'embarrassing' by Juventus' Marotta

Juventus general manager Beppe Marotta has slammed Inter Milan for being bad losers and cited a lack of a sporting mentality in Italy for their "embarrassing" behaviour.

Inter's own TV station Inter Channel broadcast replays of an incident during their 1-0 defeat at the Juventus Stadium last Sunday, which they suggested illustrated a bias towards Juve.

The conduct of referee Nicola Rizzoli and his assistants has been condemned from within the Inter camp, but Marotta says that they do not know how to take losing.

"It's embarrassing for me to have to answer to this -- I could never have imagined that after such a beautiful game things would carry on like this with them analysing incidents which did not even exist," Marotta told Mediaset prior to Juve's 2-0 win at Crotone on Wednesday evening, which saw Massimiliano Allegri's side open up a seven-point lead at the top of Serie A and increase their advantage over Inter to 15 points.

"As a man of football, I say that we need to be educating the players, coaches and directors about how you should lose games because this culture does not exist in our country. Here, we just have the culture of being controversial about referees."

Inter's defeat brought to an end a run of seven straight Serie A wins, which had catapulted Stefano Pioli's side into contention for a top-three finish.

At the final whistle on Sunday, Mauro Icardi kicked the ball towards referee Rizzoli out of protest, earning him a two-game. Ivan Perisic was given the same suspension for the red card he received late on at the Juventus Stadium as Inter's frustration boiled over.

Inter fans remain incensed by what happened and are planning a protest at their next home fixture with Empoli on Sunday, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

The supporters are set to wave white handkerchiefs in response to the Lega Serie A's decision to ban both Icardi and Perisic.

Inter have appealed against the suspensions in a bid to have the two players available again for their trip to Bologna on Feb. 19.

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