Inter and Juve serve ‘nice match’ despite second settlement for Serie A

Photo: Massimo Paolone/LaPresse/Shutterstock

This was a weekend in which Jannik Sinner’s nerves of steel captivated a country. People who had never liked tennis before were glued to their screens as the 22-year-old recovered from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final, becoming the first Italian to win a grand slam title in 48 games. years.

Even before the final, he had taken over the national discourse. As Juventus prepared to face Empoli on Saturday, Massimiliano Allegri was asked whether his team or Internazionale were the sinner of Italian football. “We are a younger team, so we have to be Sinner and they have to be Sinner too [Novak] Djokovic,” he replied, holding the Nerazzurri as the once all-conquering but now defeated semi-finalist of the Australian Open. ‘But I don’t know, maybe they’ll take it very seriously. They are very sensitive.”

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Allegri has been enjoying his press conferences of late, using small fuss like this to put pressure on Inter ahead of next Sunday’s Derby d’Italia. Earlier this month he likened the chase for the title to a game of cops and robbers, a deliberately provocative framework given the history of the two clubs during the 2006 Calciopoli scandal, which led to Juventus being stripped of two league titles and one of them to Inter was awarded. . Simone Inzaghi did not buy it, calling it “normal football dialectic” and describing the title race as a “beautiful duel”. His Inter team was too busy winning the Supercoppa to worry about what other people said. They then had a tough league match against fourth-placed Fiorentina to keep their attention.

If Juventus really wanted to test Inter’s nerves, the best they could do would be to beat Empoli. A win would have given Allegri’s side a temporary four-point lead at the top of Serie A – albeit with two more games played than Inter. On paper it looked simple: Empoli was in second place in the table. Admittedly, they had just appointed renowned relegation escape artist Davide Nicola as their new manager and won his first game at home 3-0 against Monza. But Juventus recorded seven straight wins in all competitions, scoring 21 goals along the way.

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A red card in the 18th minute for Arkadiusz Milik complicated matters. His studs-up challenge against Alberto Cerri initially earned him a booking, but that penalty was upgraded after consultation with the VAR stand. Some fans may have wondered why Milik was initially included in the starting line-up, replacing 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz, who has been so impressive since breaking into the first team at the turn of the year.

Juventus took the lead anyway. Dusan Vlahovic slotted home from a corner to extend the brilliant form that has seen him find the net seven times, with a further two assists, in his last six league games. Yet the advantage did not last: Tommaso Baldanzi equalized in the 70th minute with a low drive from the edge of the D. The match ended 1-1, with Empoli coming closest to a late winner.

Inter took advantage of this by beating Fiorentina 1-0 on Sunday evening and regaining first place with a match to go. It could easily have been a different outcome. M’Bala Nzola went through twice clear for the Viola in the first 15 minutes, but both times it was narrowly offside. Lautaro Martínez’s header, which gave Inter the lead from a corner, was taken brilliantly, but another referee might have disallowed the ball due to a possible slide from Fabiano Parisi.

That was a borderline decision, where the defender was off balance before contact and some jostling was unavoidable at a restart. Fiorentina were further aggrieved by the failure to award a penalty when Alessandro Bastoni appeared to thwart Luca Ranieri’s corner kick later in the first half. But they would eventually be awarded a controversial penalty when Yann Sommer struck a delivery into the area in the 72nd minute. The goalkeeper’s fist made clean contact with the ball before hitting Nzola in the face. Was this a dangerous game after all? On Dazn’s broadcast of the match, even former referee Luca Marelli seemed conflicted: “The goalkeeper has every right to go for the ball, but he has to pay attention. This is a slap in the face.”

Fiorentina 0-1 Inter, Lazio 0-0 Napoli, Monza 1-0 Sassuolo, Verona 1-1 Frosinone, Genoa 2-1 Lecce, Milan 2-2 Bologna, Juventus 1-1 Empoli, Atalanta 2-0 Udinese, Cagliari 1 -2 Turin. Monday evening: Salernitana against Roma

Sommer at least made up for it by saving Nico González’s penalty. “We studied [Fiorentina’s penalty takers] earlier,” the goalkeeper confirmed during his post-match interview. Judge González’s recent back catalogueyou could conclude that this was not the most difficult homework.

But this was a weekend full of penalty misses. There were five in total in Serie A – the most in a single round since 1960. Milan were responsible for two of these, with Olivier Giroud having his effort saved and Théo Hernández crashing his into the post during a 2-2 draw at home . to Bologna. What made matters worse was that Riccardo Orsolini’s injury-time equalizer against them was a successful conversion from the penalty spot.

Milan manager Stefano Pioli put it down to bad luck, describing the situation as: “something that happens every ten years, and which unfortunately happened to us”. An understandable lament, although many studies have shown that punishments are anything but a lottery. Like most other aspects of sports, players improve their chances with good practice and steady nerves.

Just ask Sinner, who continued to play his own game even when he was two sets down against an opponent who had previously won 50 of 51 hard-court grand slam matches when he won the first. A contrived comparison? Maybe, but this was a week in which the entire Serie A had to accept a second reckoning. Even Inzaghi was asked after Inter’s victory over Fiorentina whether his team’s orange shirts were a tribute to Sinner. “No,” was the laughing answer. “We often wear them outdoors. But well done to Sinner, he was brilliant.

Inzaghi batted away questions about Allegri’s tennis player comparisons, dismissing suggestions his counterpart got under his skin. “I don’t think he was rude,” said the Inter manager. “Until now I have been thinking about Fiorentina. From Tuesday we will think about Juve.”

Their head-to-head clash this Sunday already feels like a pivotal moment in this season’s title race. Inter have set an astonishing pace, with 54 points and a difference of over 40 goals from 21 games. Yet, despite Saturday’s setback, Juventus have remained in contention – their only loss this season coming back in September. League seasons are even more of an endurance test than grand slam finals. Neither team can win the Scudetto at San Siro on Sunday. Still, there will be pressure on Inter to maintain service.