A Record Set And Fine For Both Inter Milan And Roma After Lukaku’s Return To San Siro
Written By Onyeka Daniel
Over the weekend, Inter Milan defeated AS Roma at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, also known as the San Siro, with the Nerazzurri needing just one goal from their French striker, Marcus Thuram to separate the two sides on the night.
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Inter ran out 1-0 winners over Roma on the night thanks to an 81st minute strike from summer recruit Marcus Thuram and the result also saw them return to the Serie A table summit, ahead of Juventus and AC Milan.
The match also saw the return of Belgian striker, Romelu Lukaku to the same ground, but this time as an opponent and the Chelsea striker was largely ineffective against Inter’s defense with Francesco Acerbi mostly keeping a good eye on him while his teammates did the damage on the other end. The match didn’t end without it own controversy and record of course.
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The Nerazzurri have been issued with a fine of €5,000 from the sporting judge in Italy following insulting chants directed towards Lukaku during the meeting of the two sides on Sunday evening. There had been documented plans to make Lukaku’s return to San Siro an uncomfortable affair, with news of whistles being handed out to supporters outside the stadium making headlines over the weekend.
Despite being advised against it, the whistles were distributed among supporters anyway, however, the fine from the authorities relates specifically to the chanting towards Lukaku in the ground rather than the whistle stunt. Curiously, Roma have also received a fine from the sporting judge, €3,000 for their role in delaying the restart of the second half by approximately three minutes.
Over 6.2 million viewers tuned into DAZN over the weekend to watch the 10th round of 2023/24 Serie A fixtures, a new viewing figure record, breaking the previous tally, which was set just last week. There were a number of interesting fixtures over the weekend, which included encounters between Inter and Roma, Napoli and Milan as well as Lazio and Fiorentina, which likely provided a slight boost in spectators.
Before this week, the highest number of combined viewers for a single round of Serie A matches was 6.1 million, which was set in the ninth round of the 2023-24 season. The most watched match in Italy this weekend was the eagerly anticipated clash between Inter and Roma, which also brought the return of Lukaku to San Siro for the first time since leaving the Nerazzurri in the summer.
Over 1.7 million viewers watched the match, the second most watched game of the season behind Milan-Juventus last weekend (1.98 million viewers). Napoli vs. Milan, meanwhile, drew in a total of around 1.6 million on Sunday evening according to the figures as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Meanwhile…
Roma pair Paulo Dybala and Renato Sanches were both back in training with the Giallorosi on Tuesday afternoon as they begin their preparations for the upcoming Serie A fixture against Lecce on Sunday. Dybala has not featured in any of Roma’s last three matches across Serie A and the Europa League, having suffered a minor collateral ligament injury during the 4-1 win over Cagliari on October 8.
There are reports that he was prevailed upon by Jose Mourinho to skip the game against Inter so that he can fully recover. It has been a busy 24 hours in La Joya’s personal life, as he proposed to his long-term partner Oriana Sabatini in Rome on Monday night.
Read Also: The One Area Of The Team That Inter Milan Could Strengthen During The January Transfer Window
Portuguese midfielder, Renato Sanches, is also back in training with the rest of the first-team squad. Sanches has played just 98 minutes of competitive football since his arrival on loan from Paris Saint-Germain this summer. He played in the season opener against Salernitana, before opening his goalscoring account in the 7-0 win over Empoli three games later.
However, he has not featured since picking up a hamstring issue against Sheriff in Europe on September 21. Roma released a brief clip from their session on Tuesday, their first in preparation for the weekend’s game against Lecce, showing both Dybala and Sanches involved with the group, which will be a source of relief to their manager and fans.
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