Drama in the 2023 Champions League final is at the heart of the simmering grudge between Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku and Inter Milan.
This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
It is certainly no secret that there is bad blood between Romelu Lukaku and Inter Milan.
The Belgian famously had a falling out with the Nerazzurri in the summer of 2023.
Inter had been trying to sign Lukaku that summer. They’d had him on loan the previous season and were in negotiations to sign him permanently from Chelsea.
However, when Inter learned that Lukaku had also been in talks with Juventus, they abruptly pulled the plug on the move for him.
But it was not those negotiations with Juventus that were the initial cause of the grudge.
Rather, the Gazzetta note, it was the fact that Lukaku did not start in the Champions League final of the 2022-23 season.
The Belgian had been hoping to do so.
However, the Gazzetta note, Lukaku asked Simone Inzaghi for a day of training apart from the squad in the week before the final.
The former Chelsea and Manchester United striker had not quite been feeling at his best physically, and wanted the day of working alone.
But this convinced Inzaghi that starting Lukaku would not be the right decision.
Therefore, the Nerazzurri coach went with Edin Dzeko. The former Manchester City and Roma striker had in fact started for Inter throughout the knockout rounds.
However, this decision did not sit well with Lukaku. The striker felt embittered by not starting in such an important match.
Therefore, Romelu Lukaku had big doubts about his place in the project at Inter.
And that was what really caused the rift to widen.
