MILANO – Inter has grabbed the championship and won't give it up anymore. What makes Inzaghi's team's feline hunting more fascinating is the fact that, as in certain documentaries on the savannah, there are many predators nearby. If Atalanta and Napoli bite, in order not to be condemned by the law of nature, Inter must bite in turn. They have three points less than the Bergamo players, but with a game to recover. The script repeats itself, day after day. And he did it this time too, in a match against Como that hadn't been played for 21 years and 282 days. An ancient challenge, from an 80s almanac, in which the retro effect was also guaranteed by ugly streaks of bare earth on the San Siro lawn. And so the Nerazzurri, 180 minutes from the end of the group, are there, crouching, ready to launch the right move. They have won nine of their last eleven matches, in between two draws and no defeats. They won again, despite a so-so start, and even though this time the intended prey didn't want to be eaten. But in the end it still remained 2-0 on the scoreboard, and the Italian champions went under the curve.
«The match report»
Fabregas proposes one thing
In the first half Fabregas deployed his Como in a courageous but not self-defeating version. High pressing, man to man across the pitch, zonal defense in scrums in the area, studied ball movement. Inter, perhaps surprised by the confidence of their opponents, took a while to find themselves, and when they had opportunities they threw them away badly, first with Mkhitaryan, then twice with Dumfries. In the second half Inzaghi changed the team without changing a single man. Having abandoned all uncertainty, the ravenous beast that has let nothing escape in the championship since the end of last October took to the field.
Carlos Augusto opens the match, Thuram closes it
From the cornucopia of throws, crosses and geometries the simplest of goals emerged: a corner from the right coming out from Calhanoglu and a header from Carlos Augusto, deployed on the left in the back three. Fabregas did not raise the necessary barricades, giving up the defense-counterattack option, and in the final the 2-0 also arrived from Thuram, who ran to embrace Lautaro, who in the meantime had been replaced by Taremi. The Inter captain has not scored since 3 November. He suffers from it and it shows. His teammates suffer with him, as they work hard to send him through on goal. And also his coach, who as a former striker knows well the pain caused by the abstinence of playing the ball in the net. Perhaps he will have the opportunity to make up for it in Cagliari, on 28 December, or at the beginning of January in the Super Cup, where the Nerazzurri from Milan will meet those from Bergamo in the semi-final. On the other side, Juventus and Milan will compete.
Marotta's angry reply to Cardinale
The hypothesis of a possible Arab derby, and the approach of the one in the championship on 2 February, have lit distant sparks between the Rossoneri patron and the Inter president. Before the match, Beppe Marotta responded on TV to Gerry Cardinale, AC Milan shareholder through the RedBird fund, who as a guest at the Harvard Business School on Sunday had said: “Inter won the Scudetto last year and then went bankrupt ”, in reference to the club's move on an unpaid debt from Zhang to the Oaktree fund. For the Nerazzurri president, Cardinale used “words that were out of place and disrespectful. We went from minus 246 million to minus 36, winning the second star, and we are the only team in Milan that has it.” Milan are not in great form at the moment. But we know how documentaries on the savannah go: there is no mercy for the wounded beast.
INTER-COMO 2-0 (0-0)
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck (29' st De Vrij), Bastoni, Carlos Augusto; Dumfries, Barella (29' st Zielinski), Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan (44' st Frattesi), Dimarco (35' st Buchanan); Thuram, Lautaro (44' st Taremi) Coach: Inzaghi.
HOW (5-4-1): Reina; Van der Brempt, Kempf (29' st Barba), Dossena, Goldaniga, Fadera (43' st Cerri); Da Cunha, Sergi Roberto (20' st Kone); Strefezza (20' st Cutrone), Paz; Belotti (29' st Mazzitelli) Coach: Fabregas.
Referee: Giua
Rarely: in the st 3' Carlos Augusto, 47' Thuram
Recovery: 0′ e 4′
Angles: 7 a 1 per l’Inter
Warned: Bisseck, Da Cunha, Mazzitelli for foul play, Fabregas for protests, Thuram for non-compliant behavior
Expelled: Nobody
Spectators: 73.204.
Related News :