Inter, the best Inzaghi: this is how Simone earns the Nerazzurri until 2028

Journalist

December 22 – 11.19am – MILANO

Every morning Simone Inzaghi wakes up and knows he will have to run. Whether he is an uncatchable hare like a season ago or a hunter hungry for points like in this championship, it doesn't matter, because Simone runs and runs faster and faster. Since he sat on a bench the pace has become increasingly higher, a dizzying crescendo that has led him to ever higher heights: 2024, which is about to end, is his best calendar year since he began coaching, and the Inter obviously smiles with him. What's more, he is already thinking about extending his contract: one year after the other, continuing together for a long time, let's say until 2028.

Never so high

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With two games left in 2024, Inzaghi and the Nerazzurri are traveling at 2.37 points per game, Lautaro and his teammates have never done so well since Simone led them, and Simone himself has never done so well. Even in absolute terms, then, the top is approaching: by beating Como tomorrow and Cagliari on 28 December, Inzaghi would reach 89 points, two more than last year and the best score ever since he has been coaching. Above all, he would reach 40 points in the standings, which would mean not losing contact with first place and, perhaps, showing up for the end-of-year toast gaining positions. It is the formula for a second championship that the Inter coach has developed to get ahead of Napoli and Atalanta at the right time.

Horizon 2028

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It is also, above all, the formula for earning the elixir of life on the Inter bench: last July Inzaghi signed a renewal until 2026, becoming the highest paid coach in Serie A with 6.5 million net per season, but as President Marotta put it, “his cycle hasn't even reached the halfway point.” There is always time to extend further, in short, and push until 2028: Simone, today already on the podium of the longest-serving Inter coaches with five seasons in a row (considering the current deadline), would become the second most continuous ever with 7 years consecutive on the Nerazzurri bench. In front of him he would only have Helenio Herrera, who led Inter for 8 years in a row, between 1960 and 1968 (the total seasons are 9, considering 1973-74).

Almost perfect

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The best Inzaghi ever is a strange creature, who matured between the championship season and the reconfirmation season. Keeping the same pace for 365 days is certainly not easy, yet Inter and their coach managed it: the fast pace between January and April to sew on the shirt the second star in the derby at Milan was followed by a running-in phase at the dawn of this championship, mainly linked to the delay in the condition of some of the team's pillars, but the result was nevertheless extraordinary. Because Inter, from the beginning of the year to today, have lost only two matches, the one against Sassuolo who had already won the scudetto and then the derby in September, the first after six consecutive successes in Serie A and cup competitions. And he corrected certain annoying defects that looked as if they could become structural: after the first slips, the defense became an unbreakable wall again (after the 4-4 draw with Juve, the goals conceded were just two in 6 matches championship) and now feeds on resources that seemed destined to be set aside (see De Vrij); the Nerazzurri are back to making a loud statement in the clashes at the top, and the 6-0 at home to Lazio who had just beaten Napoli was a powerful message to all their rivals. Furthermore, outside the confines of the championship this Inter has left nothing behind: in Leverkusen they achieved their first defeat in the Champions League after 5 games without losing (and without conceding a goal) but the Nerazzurri are in the G8 of Europe and one step away from qualification headed to the round of 16; in the Italian Cup it gained access to the quarter-finals thanks to a comfortable 2-0 against Udinese and is preparing for the challenges that will multiply from New Year onwards: the Super Cup and the Club World Cup add to the great objectives of a season that can become historical.

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Evolving

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A linear climb, because Inter's growth materialized thanks to the growth of its leader: even those who accused him of being a coach not inclined to change have now understood that Inzaghi is a constantly evolving coach. Take the turnover, never as profound as this season: the controlled management of forces is becoming the flagship of his fourth Inter, and it is also thanks to this that Simone will be able to afford not to rotate too much between the end-of-year sprint and the Super Cup. Tactical intuitions, however, are the underlying theme of his experience, from Calhanoglu reinvented as a director to Thuram transformed into a bomber center forward and pure central Bisseck, as seen with Udinese. The real change of pace, however, was made by Inzaghi in his head: his Inter team, which was unable to find balance between one objective and another, is today in the front row on all fronts. And the reason is quickly explained: Inzaghi no longer chooses, he wants everything. And all of Inter together with him.