Romelu Lukaku was reportedly involved in a dressing room fight with Inter Milan teammate Marcelo Brozovic after the team’s disappointing Champions League draw against Slavia Prague.
The Italian giants were second best for much of Tuesday night’s match at San Siro, going behind on the hour-mark, but rallied late on as Nicolo Barella’s stoppage-time strike secured an undeserved point.
As well as looking below-par on the pitch, Gazzetta dello Sport claim that there were problems off the pitch too after the game.
Lukaku, who only moved to Inter from Manchester United a month ago, decided to give a speech to his teammates in the dressing room about why the game went so badly.
He called on the team to play with a more attack-minded attitude and get on board with head coach Antonio Conte’s tactical plan – though it did not go down well with everyone.
Brozovic inferred that some of Lukaku’s criticism was aimed at him and squared up to the Belgian, exchanging unpleasantries, and the two had to be separated before they came to blows.
Interestingly, Brozovic also had issues – and one or two dressing room bust-ups – with the striker Lukaku replaced, Mauro Icardi, who joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan over the summer window.
Speaking about Inter Milan’s performance after the match, Lukaku said: ‘The first half was very hard for us because Slavia played at such a high tempo and pressed us.
‘In the last 20 minutes we created lots of chances to score, but it wasn’t the perfect game today because we didn’t win.
‘We have to work hard to improve this season. As a team, we have to work hard every day to do what the coach wants because we have the ability to do really well, but we need to work hard every day.’
Looking ahead to the Derby della Madonnina against AC Milan, he said: ‘We’re a great team and anyone who comes up against Inter knows it will be difficult for them. We’ll be very well prepared for the game, for sure.’
