There was only one negative aspect to Inter Milan’s Supercoppa Italiana final triumph against Napoli yesterday.
Today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, identify the yellow card to Nicolo Barella as the one sour note on an otherwise very positive night.
The timing of the Supercoppa has not exactly been ideal for Inter.
At the moment, the Nerazzurri are locked in a tight Serie A title race with Juventus.
And because the Nerazzurri missed their league match over the weekend due to their Supercoppa commitments, the Bianconeri had the opportunity to go temporarily ahead of them in the table.
And that is exactly what Inter’s rivals did.
Juventus beat Lecce away in Serie A to go one point clear of Inter at the summit. Albeit with the Nerazzurri having a game in hand to recover their advantage.
But that didn’t felt like it mattered when Inter’s late winning goal went in yesterday.
Barella Yellow The Only Sour Note For Inter In Supercoppa Italiana Triumph
Inter gave themselves a boost in confidence and morale by beating Napoli yesterday.
The team showed that the Supercoppa is now “their” competition with their performance and their determination to push for the victory until the end.
And off the pitch, the prize money from winning the Supercoppa could certainly be useful to Inter in the transfer market.
But there was one negative note.
Nerazzurri midfielder Nicolo Barella went into the book. And he did so quite unnecessarily.
The former Cagliari midfielder is a player with quite the reputation for outbursts on the pitch.
And these have occasionally led to Barella receiving yellow cards for excessive protests.
That is exactly what happened yesterday.
And because yellow cards in the Supercoppa carry over towards Serie A matches, Barella will miss Inter’s next match against Fiorentina through suspension.