Gasperini and Conte have always thought so, but now, unfortunately for them, they are certain of it: for the most part scudetto Inter are not the third wheel, but comfortably the first candidate. The thunderous 6-0 of the Olimpico it is the certification of a supremacy born over time. Lazio were one of the fittest teams in the championship, they were flying and so, with their heads held high and chest out, they began the challenge. This is also why he was struck by the strength of the champions of Italycapable of overturning in their own way, taking advantage of their physique and free kicks, the development of a match that was becoming difficult.
As long as the ball was in motion, Lazio put the ball underInter with half an hour full of good football, with an opportunity not capitalized by Noslin and with many good initiatives born from Guendouzi and Rovella, often finished by Isaksen and a little less by Pedro. In decisive moments Lazio may have lacked a third midfielderbut the problem for Baroni, and the solution for Inzaghi, was when the ball stopped. A free kick, a corner, a penalty, it was all a consequence, the corner was born from the free kick, the penalty was born from the corner and on those three balls that had to be treated as the God of football commands, there was the maestro, Hakan Calhanoglu. The right foot that seems like a laser, the power that combines with precision, the slap on the ball that when kicked by the Turk has a sound that sounds like music, or at least that’s how it is to the ears of the Inter fans.
Lazio were in control and in four minutes they had their house burgled. Gila’s exit certainly didn’t help them and not only because his replacement Gigot committed the penalty foul. Having conceded the first goal, they became disunited, lost strength, concentration and attention, leaving room for Inter’s counterattack (also led by Calhanoglu) and Dimarco, on Dumfries’ cross, gave Provedel no chance. It was on that goal (and then on the following ones) that it showed the difference between a team enthusiastic about its moment and another that knows what it’s doinga team that is chasing the highest point of its dimension at high speed and another that has reached that point years ago and has no intention of giving it up. Lazio was beautiful and brilliant for thirty minutes, Inter was solid, concrete, bad and determined for the whole match. Every occasion, a goal.
For the first half hour, Baroni’s team played the match they had planned and perhaps Inzaghi’s team had also planned it that way, leaving the initiative to the home team and defending with ten men in their own half. Let’s say, he had partly chosen a prudent attitude and partly he had been forced to do so by the speed of Lazio’s maneuver, which recovered the ball in an amen. There were those who participated in the game (Lazio) and those who assisted (Inter), in the devious wait for the winning shot, or rather, winning shots. You are in everything. Many, too many for Lazio.
When the Italian champions smell victorywhen they see the game going down, they become lions and the adversary a tender prey. Inter overflowed in the first minutes of the second half, but it was all too easy, Lazio collapsed in on itself, conceded the third goal after six minutes and the fourth after eight, forgetting to mark first Barella and then Dumfries, as had already happened with Dimarco. It ended there, with all the reflections that will be made in Formello (you can’t collapse like that, six goals hurt, very badly) and with all the certainties that return to Pinetina (first place is one step away again).
