Inter are hoping to set a new defensive record for Antonio Conte’s tenure at the club against Lazio on Sunday, as highlighted by the Italian media today.
After struggling to shut teams out earlier in the campaign, the Nerazzurri have rediscovered their solidity at the back and kept four clean sheets in their last four league games.
Corriere dello Sport’s print edition pointed out that Inter have never gone five matches in Serie A without conceding since Conte’s appointment in the summer of 2019.
“The trio of Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni has become the winning formula to take the challenge to AC Milan,” the Rome-based paper argued.
“Let’s even give credit to Samir Handanovic, who showed in the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against Juventus in Turin – and against Napoli in December – that he knows how to make decisive saves.”
De Vrij has only missed two games all season for Inter, with Skriniar absent for four league games after contracting COVID-19 in October.
Bastoni has continued to improve throughout the campaign, meanwhile, giving Conte no reason to ever consider making personnel changes in his three-man defence.
Inter’s newfound defensive solidity will now be subject to two huge tests, with Lazio and AC Milan – who were fortunate enough to take on the Nerazzurri without Skriniar or Bastoni in the reverse fixture – coming up in their next two games.
