Inter could actually end up benefitting from March’s international break, a report in the Italian media argued today.

As per Gazzetta dello Sport’s print edition, Antonio Conte had cause for concern last week when the Nerazzurri’s players were released to play after the club’s COVID-19 outbreak.

However, Conte can breathe a sigh of relief after no further positive cases – and in fact Inter could even be strengthened for once by their players’ performances on international duty.

Romelu Lukaku, Milan Skriniar, Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolo Barella, Stefano Sensi, Christian Eriksen and Achraf Hakimi have all returned to the club with smiles on their faces.

The Milan-based paper’s report highlighted three particular bits of good news which were reinforced by this week’s FIFA World Cup qualifying games, regarding Lukaku, Perisic and Skriniar.

Lukaku’s goal-scoring performances for Belgium have confirmed he is irreplaceable for Conte; Perisic’s displays with Croatia confirmed he has turned his season around; and Skriniar continued his fantastic club form by scoring his first two goals for his country.

Andrei Radu is the only Inter player returning without anything to celebrate, the report added, with Romania boss Mirel Radoi leaving the goalkeeper on the bench for all their fixtures in the last 10 days.