Napoli and Inter Milan go into the last day of the Serie A season still fighting for the title but have to do so without their managers after Antonio Conte and Simone Inzaghi were handed one-match suspensions by the Italian league on Monday.
Sunday’s penultimate round of fixtures was a dramatic one, with emotions and tempers boiling over. Five managers paid the price with red cards and will not be on the bench when their sides take to the pitch for their final league game.
Inter were closing in on a win over Lazio on Sunday which, with Napoli drawing with Parma, would have put Inzaghi’s side top of the table, when the referee went to the VAR monitor to check for a possible penalty for Lazio.
Inzaghi and his opposite number Marco Baroni were involved in heated exchanges on the touchline, and were both shown a red card. The penalty for a Yann Bisseck handball was awarded, and converted by Pedro in the 90th minute of the 2-2 draw.
The two managers put the argument behind them as they nervously watched the closing minutes side-by-side from the stands.
Napoli, meanwhile, were unable to get the better of relegation battling Parma and in the 90th minute of the scoreless draw Antonio Conte and Parma coach Cristian Chivu were involved in a shouting match and were both sent off.
“I was annoyed by Parma’s obstruction today, as I was used to English football, where there aren’t all these stops for cramp, injuries, pretending to be injured, so it irritated me and that’s why I was sent off,” Conte said.
His Napoli side held onto their one-point advantage over Inter, and will host Cagliari on Friday at the same time as Inter are at Como. Should the sides finish level on points, both managers would return for a Scudetto-deciding playoff.
Inzaghi will, however, definitely have one more turn on the bench this season, with Inter meeting Paris St Germain in the Champions League final on May 31 in Munich.
AC Milan manager Sergio Conceicao will also miss his side’s final game after his sending off in added time of a 3-1 defeat at AS Roma.
That could well have been Conceicao’s last match on the Milan bench, with the club going into Saturday’s game at home to Monza already out of the hunt for a place in Europe next season.
