Conte crisis: Pressure piles on Inter coach as dreadful run continues

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

The pressure on Antonio Conte has increased after Inter failed to win once again on Sunday.

The Nerazzurri could only manage a 1-1 draw in Bergamo against Atalanta after second half substitute Aleksei Miranchuk cancelled out Lautaro Martinez’s opener.

This result means that Inter have now only won one of their last eight games – and none of their last four – a run of form that has piled the pressure on the club’s coach Conte.

They have also kept just two clean sheets in 10 games, conceding 16 goals.

Inter were expected to be serious challengers for the Scudetto this season after another big summer of spending where they splashed out almost €100 million on players, including €40m on Achraf Hakimi.

Despite this outlay, Conte very nearly quit the club this summer but ended up staying after crisis talks with the club’s Chinese owners.

But the Nerazzurri have stumbled so far in 2020/21 and could find themselves seven points off the top of Serie A by the end of the weekend.

They are also winless in the Champions League, having picked up two points from their three group games.

Their 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday means they are bottom of their group and face an uphill battle to avoid being eliminated at the first hurdle for a third straight year.

Conte is comfortably the highest paid coach in Serie A. He earns €12m-a-year at San Siro, with the next best-paid manager being Roma’s Paulo Fonseca on €2.5m a season.