Inter Milan paid for the “distraction” of upcoming matches against Man City and AC Milan in their Serie A draw with Monza.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews.
Yesterday’s fixture at the U-Power Stadium always had a particular place in the fixture list for Inter.
The Nerazzurri were coming back from the international break. It had been sixteen days since they’d last played a match in Serie A.
But the wait will be much shorter from now on.
Already on Wednesday Inter will be back in action. They face Premier League juggernauts Manchester City in their first match in the Champions league “league phase.”
Furthermore, in one week Inter will take on city rivals AC Milan.
The derby is always one of the biggest matches in both Inter and Milan’s seasons, regardless of the circumstances of the league table.
Inter Pay For Man City & AC Milan “Distractions” Vs Monza
So there were always going to be signs of Inter looking ahead to their next matches in their match away to Monza.
That was evident in the starting eleven selection by Nerazzurri coach Simone Inzaghi.
The coach decided to make sweeping changes to keep key players fresh for the upcoming matches against City and Milan.
Even in the second half, the likes of Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella, and Alessandro Bastoni did not see the pitch.
And in terms of Inter’s performance, it started brightly enough as the team chased an early goal.
But after that, a sense of complacency crept in. It gave the impression that the Nerazzurri were playing within themselves, trying to conserve energy.
The verdict of Tuttosport was that this made the result all but inevitable.
Inter were never going to be able to secure a convincing win in a match that they were not treating as their priority.