Italian journalist Fabrizio Biasin feels that if Inter were to be dumped out of the Champions League by city rivals AC Milan next month, it could well spell the end for Simone Inzaghi as Nerazzurri coach.
Writing in his column in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Libero, via FCInter1908, the journalist weighed in on just how much is at stake for Inzaghi over the coming few weeks of the campaign.
Inzaghi’s future has been the subject of intense speculation and criticism as the coach has been heavily criticized for the way that Inter’s league season has started to come off the rails.
However, the 47-year-old former Lazio boss has always seemed to manage to provide an answer when he’s needed it most, in the form of the Nerazzurri’s swashbuckling exploits in the cup competitions.
The issue with this state of affairs for the coach, however, is that he seems to be staking his entire future on knockout competitions where one wrong move could spell disaster.
With the missteps and setbacks arriving like clockwork in Serie A, Inzaghi and Inter have found themselves in a kind of paradoxical situation, where they keep seizing opportunities to respond their critics and give momentum and positivity to their season, but at the same time have to ratchet up the pressure and tension each time.
Biasin writes that “Elimination from the Champions League in the derby would turn into a death sentence sentence, there would be no one saying ‘Oh, well done, you reached the semifial!’ but rather, ‘Worthless! You got knocked out by Milan!'”
“At that point the names of coaches like De Zerbi would certainly become strongly linked once again,” he continues.
“However, for the moment it seems absurd to pillory a coach who’s reached yet another final and is playing for everything at all costs, it’s still Simone’s game and he’s going to do everything he can to play for it,” Biasin suggests.
