Bodo vs Inter – Marotta: ‘Bastoni saga left bitter taste’

PARMA, ITALY – APRIL 05: Giuseppe Marotta Chairman of FC Internazionale looks on prior to the Serie A match between Parma and FC Internazionale at Stadio Ennio Tardini on April 05, 2025 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Inter Milan president Giuseppe Marotta has expressed his eagerness to move on from the controversy surrounding Alessandro Bastoni and Pierre Kalulu’s red card in the Derby d’Italia as his side focus on tonight’s Champions League play-off against Bodo/Glimt.

You can follow all the action from the first leg, in addition to Milan-Como, as it happens, on our Live Blog.

Speaking on Sky, Marotta discussed several topics.

First he was asked about the debate surrounding tonight’s stadium, with Bodo/Glimt’s home pitch being an artificial turf. It has caused problems for some teams visiting the Norwegian side but Marotta dismissed it was any breaking news:

“We don’t want to get into controversy, we know this is an old-school synthetic pitch that inevitably is problematic. We must adapt to this situation too.”

Speaking about the Bastoni debate, the Inter president said:

“I don’t want to add anything else, this is a chapter that left a bitter taste in the mouth. We want to focus on this very difficult match, hoping that all the Italian teams can go through to the next phase in Europe.”

Bodo/Glimt vs Inter – Marotta on Italian football crisis & Stankovic buy-back

Marotta then addressed ongoing issues within Italian football, that he described as “going backwards in terms of quality, results and appeal.”

He added that “The foreign funds arrived during a moment of difficulty and complexity in the Calcio world, and if not for them, the Milanese clubs would be in a much worse situation.”

“Since Oaktree took over, we invested, and can consider ourselves fortunate in that sense. I am not sceptical about foreign funds owning clubs at all. Obviously, they must also have the desire to invest and not just have speculative interests.”

Marotta was then asked to talk about Aleksandar Stankovic, who is enjoying a fantastic season with Belgian Pro League side Club Brugge.

Stankovic joined the Belgian side last summer but the Nerazzurri kept a buy-back clause in his contract.

With his performances improving month-on-month, it seems fairly likely that Inter will activate said clause.

On the matter, Marotta said:

“He is from a fine football family and is doing very well. We have the option to buy him back, and we didn’t put that in the deal for no reason.

“It is premature to talk about it now, we’ll see what happens. He is our player and is having a wonderful experience in the Belgian league and Champions League.”