Torino channel their Invincibles in unlikely quest for Champions League | Paolo Bandini


Inter v Juventus drew the focus but the cities’ other teams – Milan and Torino – played a more significant match

“Game over.” The words stretched out across the second tier of San Siro’s northern stand on Saturday night in an epic display of schadenfreude. Juventus are champions of Italy for the eighth year running, yet their quest to conquer Europe for the first time since 1996 remains unfulfilled. No club’s supporters enjoy that truth more than those of Inter: the last Serie A team to lift the Champions League.

Still, the mockery cut both ways. If the game is over for Juventus in Europe, then domestically it never even began. Inter, in their second season under Luciano Spalletti, were supposed to be building towards a title challenge. When the fixtures were first published, this one leapt off the page. A Derby d’Italia in late April ought to have something riding on it for both teams.

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Bologna 3-1 Empoli, Roma 3-0 Cagliari, Inter 1-1 Juventus, Frosinone 0-2 Napoli, Chievo 1-1 Parma, Spal 1-1 Genoa, Sampdoria 1-2 Lazio, Torino 2-0

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