Fabio Capello insists he was misinterpreted after he told Inter teen Sebastiano Esposito not to go the same way as Roma’s Nicolò Zaniolo.
Zaniolo grabbed all three points for Roma when they beat Milan 2-1 on Sunday and proceeded to hit out at Capello, saying “I let my performances do the talking.”
Fabio Capello insists he was misinterpreted after he told Inter teen Sebastiano Esposito not to go the same way as Roma’s Nicolò Zaniolo.
Zaniolo grabbed all three points for Roma when they beat Milan 2-1 on Sunday and proceeded to hit out at Capello, saying “I let my performances do the talking.”
However, the ex-Giallorossi boss clarified he was only trying to steer Esposito away from controversy rather than criticise his fellow starlet.
“Roma misinterpreted me. They didn’t understand what I said about Zaniolo,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“I’m happy that Nicolò scored, I’m just sad that he scored against Milan.
“I wanted to talk about Esposito, a young player of 18 years, who plays in the Champions League.
“When people talk about you, you can lose your head. And I used the example of Zaniolo and [Moise] Kean in the national team.
“[Luigi] Di Biagio sent them to the stands with the Under-21s because they made a mistake and he wanted to send a signal.
“He wanted to say: ‘Your path will be harder and more difficult if you behave like this’.
“I simply wanted to offer a suggestion to a player, not to make the same mistakes.”