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A32 sports
Diahuebs 27 Mei 2021

Inter coach Conte to leave club after winning Serie A title

a profit of around 100 million euros "You came at the right time and ba-
(122 million dollars) in the transfer sically changed me as a player and
market, likely by selling at least one made me even stronger mentally and
of the club's most important players. more importantly we won together!"
Lukaku wrote, along with a picture of
Inter won its first Serie A title in 11 both of them.
years this month, in Conte's second
season in charge. The 51-year-old "I will keep your principles for the
Conte had another season remaining rest of my career ... it was a pleasure
on his contract. to play for you! Thank you for all
He was keen to continue the project what you did. I owe you a lot."
he had started at Inter and to build —
rather than detract from — his squad Conte previously won three Serie A
in order to be able to challenge in the titles with Juventus and won the Pre-
Champions League. Inter finished mier League with Chelsea in 2017.
bottom of its Champions League He also coached the Italy national
group this season. team.

Conte rejuvenated a troubled Inter Conte came close three times to end-
(AP) — Inter Milan coach Anto- nio Conte will forever remain a part side when he took over in 2019 fol- ing Inter's lengthy wait for a trophy
nio Conte left the newly-crowned of our club's history." lowing a year off after being sacked by in his first season in charge. The club
Serie A champion by "mutual Chelsea. finished a point behind Juventus in
consent" Wednesday, just weeks Conte had openly contemplating Serie A and lost the Europa League
after leading the Nerazzurri to leaving Inter a year ago when he se- Inter was in disarray after a season final to Sevilla. The Nerazzurri also
their first league title in more verely criticized the club's Chinese of turmoil, with underperforming lost in the Italian Cup semifinals to
than a decade. owners for failing to "protect" the stars and dressing-room discord. But eventual champion Napoli.
squad from criticism. Conte shook things up and trans-
Conte was reportedly unhappy about formed the squad with his strict, no- Inter last won the league in 2010 un-
the club's decision to sell players in This season, Inter's finances were hit nonsense attitude and attention to der José Mourinho, along with the
this coming transfer window because badly by the coronavirus pandemic, detail. Champions League title and the Ital-
of financial constraints. as well as the club's early elimina- ian Cup. It retained the domestic cup
tion from European football. The Romelu Lukaku was one of the play- the following year.
"Inter can confirm that an agreement club was forced to take out a vast loan ers that thrived under Conte's tute-
has been reached with Antonio Con- from Oaktree Capital recently in a lage. The Belgium forward was one Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi is re-
te for the termination of his contract financing deal with the American in- of his first signings and has gone from portedly top of the list of names being
by mutual consent," the club said in vestment fund. strength to strength since signing considered to replace Conte, along
a statement. "The club would like to from Manchester United for around with former Juventus coaches Massi-
thank Antonio for the extraordinary Inter's owner Suning and president 80 million euros (then $90 million). miliano Allegri and Maurizio Sarri as
work that he has done, culminating Steven Zhang reportedly wanted to And Lukaku thanked his mentor in well as Bologna's Siniša Mihajlović,
in Inter's 19th top-flight title. Anto- slash the wage bill by 20% and make an emotional post on Instagram. who used to play for Inter.

New Era apologizes, pulls caps mocked on social media

(AP) — New Era says it Rays' hat didn't include St. and Nationals had emblems edition by changing the bio City, pigs, Missouri and the
pulled a lampooned line Petersburg, where the team's featuring "1776," even though on the club's official social 1985 World Series."
of Major League Baseball stadium is located, and the Washington wasn't founded media account to read: "Lo- The caps were never meant
hats from its website Tues- Pittsburgh Pirates' version as a city until 1791. cated in Kansas City, Mo., we to be worn by players in
day and is apologizing for had no area codes at all. The Royals social media love Kansas area codes, saxo- games and were strictly for
design inaccuracies on the team derided the Kansas City phones, the flag of Kansas retail use.
caps meant to pay homage "One of the design features
to communities with big incorporates the local area
league clubs. codes of the respective MLB
teams," the statement said. "It
New Era spokesman Mark recently came to our atten-
Maidment said in a state- tion that a few caps omitted a
ment to The Associated Press relevant area code. In light of
on Wednesday that the "Lo- this, we removed the collec-
cal Market" collection was tion from our website so we
launched in November of could review the design accu-
2020, but the company was racy of all the caps. We apolo-
only made aware of issues gize for any unintentional
with the designs when social design mistake with regard to
media users began mocking this collection."
them en masse Tuesday.
Decals on the hats were also
The series included one cap ridiculed as tacky, generic and
for each team featuring the at times inaccurate — Cin-
club's primary logo, area cinnati fans had particular
codes for the surrounding beef over a poor rendering of
communities and various their beloved local chili. Us-
iconography meant to repre- ers ragged on New Era for
sent the area. a lack of creativity: a slice of
The area code selection was pizza was used for both New
inconsistent, though, with York teams, most California
several notable omissions. caps included tacos and palm
Among them: the Tampa Bay trees, and both the Phillies