Internazionale’s rollercoaster 4-3 win against Fiorentina sums up a side on a good recent run despite their defensive woesSimone Inzaghi never did fear the madhouse. His predecessor at Internazionale, Antonio Conte, made it a mission to end the club’s reputation as “Pazza Inter” – Crazy Inter – insisting they should instead be “regular and strong”. That goal was achieved as they marched to the 2020-21 Scudetto. Once they claimed top spot, they never let go: 11 clean sheets in the final 21 games ensuring their rivals never got a sniff.It was a different story last season, when Inzaghi’s Inter led in December only to stumble through the winter and finish second. One journalist asked whether the pazza days had returned....
Portuguese forward left Internazionale in his wake with a fine performance that shows why the club fought to retain himRafael Leão signed off, as he so often does, with his favourite emoji, the little man riding a surfboard. He had given no interviews after Milan’s game against Internazionale so we had to make do with a two-word social media post, less a comment than a vibe: “Derby Waves.”Perhaps that was a perfect synopsis of a game of relentless, roiling drama. An evening when two halves of a city took turns to ride the crests and then tumble back beneath the water, swept along by irresistible tides that would not allow anyone to stop for breath. Continue reading...
On an opening weekend of thrills and spills, Milan looked far more self-assured than their city rivals even as both sides wonThe only thing missing from Serie A’s opening weekend was a bleary-eyed traveller bursting into the room and demanding to know what year it is. Rodrigo Becão scoring a header against Milan? How did a story this unlikely get stuck on repeat? The Udinese centre-back’s three goals in four seasons against the Rossoneri are more than he has managed against every other opponent combined in his professional career.Six hundred miles away, Romelu Lukaku netted on his Inter debut against Lecce, exactly as he did when he joined for the first time in 2019. The shirt on his back has...
Title race will go down to wire but if Milan win it the ‘coast to coast’ goal against Atalanta will be season’s standout momentRafael Leão held his head in his hands, but this was no gesture of despair. The Portuguese forward had just watched his Milan teammate, Theo Hernández, score the goal that would put them within a point of claiming the Scudetto, sealing a 2-0 win over Atalanta. He should have been celebrating but needed to stop for a moment and try to fathom what he had just seen.Theo had set off from the left corner of Milan’s penalty area moments before. When the ball ran to him from a sliding challenge by Rade Krunic on Jérémie Boga, he...
Farewells for Chiellini and possibly Perisic as Inter won a compelling showpiece featuring two penalties and a red cardBy the end of the night at the Stadio Olimpico, we had seen it all: six goals, two penalties, a red card given and another that probably should. A cup final edition of the Derby d’Italia, played out over 120 messy but captivating minutes and followed up with immediate breaking news. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus’s captain, announced he was leaving the club. Ivan Perisic, the match-winner for Internazionale, suggested he could soon be moving on too.The stakes had been clear before kick-off. For Juventus this was a last chance to salvage a disappointing season. The rehiring of Massimiliano Allegri as manager last summer...