Alessandro Bastoni feels that Inter Milan’s current title charge under Simone Inzaghi has been very different from their title win under Antonio Conte.
The 25-year-old spoke to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, via FCInterNews. He also reflected on the team’s elimination from the Champions League.
Inter have not quite clinched the Serie A title this season.
However, there is no doubt that it is a question of “when” rather than “if” the Nerazzurri become Italian champions League.
And the answer to that question could be in the next week or two.
If Inter were to win their next two matches – against Cagliari and AC Milan – then it would be mathematically certain that they would lift the Scudetto.
And even if not – it shouldn’t be too long. Unless Inter were to suffer a truly dramatic collapse in form, it should just be a couple more results to go.
Alessandro Bastoni Compares Title Wins Under Inzaghi & Conte
The last time that Inter won the Serie A title was in the 2020-21 season.
The coach for that triumph had been former Juventus, Chelsea, and Italy boss Antonio Conte.
However, Conte left immediately after the end of that campaign. It was Simone Inzaghi who came in to replace him.
Bastoni noted that “Under Conte, we had already been expected to win it right from the start of the season.”
“Not this time, though,” the defender continued.
“I don’t remember any of the pundits putting Inter as favourites at the start of the season.”
“And let’s be clear,” Bastoni said. “During the summer we didn’t even know who all would be in the squad.”
“So the Scudetto would be a feeling of great vindication for those of us who helped the new players to integrate and settle in,” the Italian international remarked.
“It would be a triumph of the entire Inter group.”
Bastoni admitted that Inter have been thinking about the title and the “second star” since the start of the season. “And during the second part of last season as well.”
“We spoke to each other as players,” the 25-year-old said. “It had been a bad start to the season. One of the worst moments I’ve experienced at Inter.”
“And from that moment on, things have changed.”
Equalizer In Madrid Inter’s “Mistake” In Champions League
Meanwhile, of Inter’s elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Atletico Madrid, Bastoni said that “If we didn’t go through, it means that we failed somehow.”
“That’s just one more reason to try again next season.”
“Our mistake was conceding the equalizer right after going ahead in Madrid,” Bastoni reflected.
“But that’s just football.”
As far as what Inter could be missing in the Champions League, Bastoni identified “The habit of playing in that kind of match.”
“Before Inzaghi came in, Inter hadn’t reached the round of sixteen in a long time.”
“But we’re growing. Just look at the fact that we have all these regrets about going out in the round of sixteen against Atletico.”
“Just two years ago, it almost felt like a special event to go out to Liverpool,” Bastoni noted. “That already shows the big change.”
