Inter could well be on track to win the Scudetto or have done so by now had they not had the drain on their energy of their Champions League round of sixteen tie against Liverpool at a key point in the season.
This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, who suggest that coach Simone Inzaghi will nonetheless have regarded the knockout clash as an important experience for his team.
The Nerazzurri won the Scudetto last season under Antonio Conte despite having finished dead last in their Champions League group, meaning that they had few midweek games to deal with over the second half of the campaign.
This season, AC Milan also finished bottom of their Champions League group to have a somewhat less hectic schedule from January onwards, an advantage which could prove to be decisive.
Reaching the knockout rounds of Europe’s top competition was a key objective for the Nerazzurri’s season in any case, but there is still a feeling that they may have been overstretched especially with the way their form sagged in the period where they had the commitment of two knockout clashes against finalists Liverpool.
