Former Inter, Roma, Leicester City, and Sampdoria coach Claudio Ranieri believes that Inter have yet to really recover from the setback of losing to AC Milan in the derby last season.
Speaking to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, Ranieri identified the bitter blow of throwing away a lead in a couple minutes against the Rossoneri and its subsequent ramifications for the Scudetto race at the heart of the Nerazzurri’s current struggles.
Inter had gone into the derby last February flying high, with a sizable lead at the top of the Serie A table built on a long winning run between November and January, and they had a deserved 1-0 lead heading into the closing stages of a match where a victory would have been a massive step towards the title.
However, the shock of a quickfire brace by Milan striker Olivier Giroud was enough to shift the momentum, with the Nerazzurri entering a major slump in form that lasted several weeks, and Ranieri feels that the effects of this can’t be underestimated.
“They no longer look like themselves since the defeat in the derby last season, when they started to lose their grip on the Scudetto,” he argued.
“They signed Lukaku to recover the determination of the past, but then he was lost to injury immediately,” he noted.
