Inter’s loss to Juventus yesterday evening means that their clash with Napoli on the other side of the World Cup break now looks unlikely to be a real Scudetto clash.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, who note that the Nerazzurri’s main objective now looks to be top four rather than the Serie A title.
Inter are now eleven points behind Napoli after the league leaders won their match against Atalanta on Saturday before the Nerazzurri lost 2-0 to Juventus.
This means that, by the time that the two teams meet in January, there is likely to be a points gap between them in the double digits.
Therefore, even if Inter were to win, it would still not be enough to do more than eat into the sizable gap between the two teams a bit.
The Nerazzurri will see all the matches in Serie A as virtually must-win from here on out, but this will be more in terms of ensuring they can get Champions League football next season than anything.
At this point, the notion of catching up to the Partenopei at the top is a very optimistic one indeed.