Inter and Simone Inzaghi were able to exorcise the demons that have lingered since they lost to AC Milan in the derby one year ago by beating the Rossoneri in Serie A yesterday evening.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who suggest that Inzaghi will have gotten something out of his system with his first league win in a Milan derby.
Inter had lost to Milan in the derby last February, throwing away a 1-0 lead to a quickfire brace by Rossoneri striker Olivier Giroud.
As if this was not painful enough, the points gained by Milan proved to be the margin in a title race that went down to the final day.
A further derby loss to the Rossoneri in the first league derby of the current Serie A season meant that Inzaghi’s wait for a derby win in the league had to continue, even if he had masterminded an impressive victory over Inter’s city rivals in the Coppa Italia semifinals last season.
Even last month’s 3-0 shellacking of the Rossoneri in the Supercoppa Italiana still did not fully make up for the disappointment of last season.
Now, finally, at the fourth time of asking, Inzaghi has coached Inter to a win against their city rivals in the league.
The 1-0 scoreline suggested a close match, but in truth Inter’s performance was a dominant one, and the fact that they have managed this in a derby in the league is no small matter.
If one year ago, the sense was that some mental fragility on the team’s part and a couple of naive substitutions by the coach had cost Inter the derby win and ultimately the Scudetto, this time around they have proved that they are well past that.