Juventus GM Beppe Marotta denies he mocked Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni after last night's defeat.

Stramaccioni was very irritated after the 3-1 win in Turin at the 'sarcastic' comments from Marotta regarding his 'carefree tactics.'

"If he wants to cause controversy, that's his problem. It was a compliment, as it means he had courage coming to Turin with three strikers," insisted Marotta.

"I said two excellent teams would go head-to-head today, so I cannot be clearer than that. If Stramaccioni wants to turn anything into a headline, then he's free to do so.

"Not everyone comes to Turin with three forwards, so it really was a compliment.

"We certainly did not underestimate Inter, who have some great individual players and I considered them to be one of the Scudetto contenders even before this match.

"Perhaps we were not at our best. We certainly had more chances in the first half, though perhaps with the tempo not as high as usual.

"The squad is keeping up with constant commitments at domestic, European and international level, so that does take a lot out of you in physical and psychological terms.

"Let us not forget we still have the strongest attack and defence in Serie A. Our characteristics are that the group allows individuals to have scoring opportunities. Perhaps having a more clinical hitman would've brought us some advantages."