Napoli vs. Inter: Conte and Chivu meet again after fiery 2024-25 Scudetto clash

Napoli and Inter will go head to head in a top-of-the-table Serie A match on Saturday evening, which will be just the second time that Antonio Conte and Cristian Chivu have gone up against each other in the dugout. Here’s what happened the last time the two coaches clashed in Serie A. 

The only other time that Conte and Chivu have met in Serie A came in the penultimate round of 2024-25 fixtures in a game that saw Napoli risk letting their status as the league leaders slip away. 

The Partenopei had led the Serie A table by just one point heading into the Parma match at the end of last season, and had briefly slipped into second place when Inter took the lead against Lazio in their game that was being played simultaneously. 

The Parma vs. Napoli match was full of action, despite eventually finishing in a 0-0 draw. Napoli had hit the post three times and had also been awarded a penalty, only to see that decision overturned by a VAR review. 

Then, right at the end of the 0-0 draw came the red cards for Chivu and Conte. The celebrations in the Napoli dugout upon hearing the news that Lazio had equalised against Inter were deemed excessive. 

Conte clashed, specifically, with Antonio Gagliardi, who had been working as an assistant coach under Chivu at Parma at the time, and had also worked with Conte as an analyst for the Italy national team. 

Conte and Chivu were both shown red cards, were forced to watch the final moments of their match from the stands and were also suspended for the final round of 2024-25 Serie A fixtures, the week that saw Napoli claim the Scudetto. 

Strangely, Conte, Chivu, Sergio Conceicao, Simone Inzaghi and Marco Baroni were all handed suspensions for the final round of 2024-25 Serie A fixtures.