Marco Materazzi SLAMS ‘bad losers’ Barcelona
FT Desk
- Updated: 12 Oct 2022 18:15 BST
- 5 min read
Inter Milan legend Marco Materazzi stoked the tensions ahead of Wednesday’s big Champions League clash against Barcelona by slamming the Catalan side.
The two teams were involved in a fiery and highly controversial clash at San Siro a week ago, won by Inter 1-0.
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Hakan Calhanoglu scored the only goal of the game for the Italians, but Barcelona had a goal disallowed – correctly – before they were dubiously denied a penalty in injury time.
Despite Denzel Dumfries appearing to deliberately handle the ball, the referee and VAR team opted against giving Barca a penalty.
This led to a huge outcry from Barcelona’s staff and fans after the game. Manager Xavi appeared to signal with his hands that Inter had bought the game, while there were numerous complaints in the media from Barca figures.
The pressure is now on Barcelona as if they fail to beat Inter on Wednesday, they risk elimination from the Champions League.
Materazzi has responded to this ahead of Wednesday’s return game at Camp Nou by calling Barcelona bad losers.
What did Materazzi say?
“Come on guys, there is no better feeling than trying to win against those who don’t know how to lose,” the former defender wrote on Instagram, accompanied by a picture of Inter’s famous triumph in 2010 over Barca.
Inter defeated Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the Champions League, with Materazzi part of the Nerazzurri squad.
Jose Mourinho’s Barca managed to see out most of the second leg at Camp Nou against Pep Guardiola’s Barca with 10 men after Thiago Motta had been controversially sent off in the first half.
Materazzi and Inter then went on to win the final 2-0 against Bayern Munich in Madrid.
Materazzi is most famous for his exploits at the 2006 World Cup, as he was a key player in Italy winning the tournament.
He scored two goals – including Italy’s equaliser in the final. But it was the headbutt he received from Zinedine Zidane – which saw the Frenchman sent off in the final game of his career – that will go down in infamy.
