Italian journalist Mario Sconcerti believes that Inter gave one of their best performances of the season before throwing away a lead to lose 2-1 to AC Milan in the derby yesterday evening.
Writing in his column in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, Sconcerti hailed the Nerazzurri’s display for much of the match until they lost control in the decisive closing stages.
Inter looked to have been the more organized and incisive of the two teams in the first half, deservedly going into the break a goal ahead and possibly deserving even more for their efforts.
Even in the opening stages of the second half things looked to be following a similar pattern, with the Nerazzurri the team who looked more comfortable dictating the tempo compared to their city rivals.
However, as the match wore on, it was the Rossoneri who came good by taking advantage of the key moments in the form of a quickfire Olivier Giroud brace to take all three points and get themselves right back into the Scudetto race.
“For an hour Inter looked the best that they have all season,” Sconcerti writes, “but then they fell apart, as if they lost all energy.”
“Whoever wins in football always deserves to do so,” he goes on, “whether because of their own efforts or the mistakes of the opponents.”
“But Milan had only one shot on target, from Tonali from outside the box, and then scored the two goals through Giroud,” he adds. “Across the rest of the match they were mostly dominated.”
“It’s true that across the second half Inter began to withdraw too much, in an effort to keep the game under control,” he goes on. “Inzaghi was shouting that his team had no need to be frantic.”
“Inter have inflicted this defeat on themselves primarily,” Sconcerti argues. “Inzaghi began by making three changes just minutes before Milan began their comeback, Calhanoglu, Lautaro, and Perisic, the best player on the pitch.”
He suggests that “You can’t change three of ten outfield players without shifting the balance of a team significantly.”
“Maybe Inzaghi felt the result was safe,” he goes on, “Calhanoglu had recently been booked, maybe he was thinking about the next matches, but there’s no doubt that he messed with a team that had been in control up to that point.”
“And immediately afterwards, they lost the match within the space of a few moments,” he adds. “Milan struck gold without really having to push for it.”
