Yesterday’s Inter Milan Serie A win over Roma was “brilliant, flawed, and ended in the predictable result.”
This is the view in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews.
As a clash between two of the Italian top flight’s biggest teams, yesterday’s match at the Stadio Olimpico was always going to be a potential “advertisement” for Serie A.
Inter were certainly the favourites on paper.
The Nerazzurri had won six out of six in 2024 before yesterday – four in the league, two in the Supercoppa Italiana.
The Nerazzurri had beaten chief title rivals Juventus last weekend.
And Inter have been the outstanding team in Serie A this season by almost any standard. They have scored the most goals in the league, conceded the fewest, and lost just once.
Roma, on the other hand, have been in rocky form all season long.
That, along with a mounting toxic atmosphere, saw Jose Mourinho sacked as Giallorossi coach last month.
Inter Serie A Win Vs Roma “Brilliant” Despite “Predictable” Result
On the other hand, Roma had won all three of their matches under the guidance of Mourinho’s replacement, legendary former midfielder Daniele De Rossi.
And the confidence in the team was on full display in how they approached their match against the league leaders.
Roma were playing in front of their own fans in the Italian capital. And they used that energy to take the game to Inter.
In rain-soaked conditions, the Giallorossi were the team more suited to what became an end-to-end, frenetic scrap for much of the first half.
Therefore, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when the home side when in at halftime with a 2-1 advantage. Nor was it undeserved.
But it also wasn’t a surprise when Inter found a way to turn it around.
A team who have won relentlessly this season needed just ten minutes to equalize and then score another goal.
But there was nothing boring about this. Inter strung together some brilliant sequences of passes, at great pace, to break down Roma in a breathless spell after the interval.
And after that, there was plenty of fight left in the Giallorossi.
The match became stretched. And the two teams traded blows for the final half an hour or so, without either breaking through.
In the end, it was Inter who got the match’s final goal. Defender Alessandro Bastoni sealed the win with a stoppage time goal – his first of the season.
The final result confirmed pre-match expectations.
But the match that produced it was not lacking in drama or excitement – even if sometimes the quality was not the highest.
