When the fireworks show ended, Lautaro Martínez wore the Super coppa trophy presented to supporters behind the goal. “C’è solo l’Inter”, played during the public speech – “There is only Inter” – and at that moment that anthem felt appropriate. The Nerazzurri have won this competition three years in a row. Martínez scored every time in the final.
Is that the right way to put it? All 35 Super coppe before that it had been a final by default: a one-off match between the Italian league and cup winners. This was the first edition to feature semi-finals, with the runners-up from each competition invited to a showcase event in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
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It is not the first time that the Super coppa has gone abroad. Previous matches have been played in Libya, China, Qatar and the United States. Yet this expanded version met with resistance from the start. Supporters’ groups from three of the clubs involved – Napoli, Fiorentina and Lazio – released statements saying they would not attend. The manager of the latter club, Maurizio Sarri, called it “anything but sport”.
Interzazionale ultras shared the sentiment, but a contingent still traveled to Riyadh. A post on Curva Nord’s Instagram account denounced “a football now ruled by despicable money” but said they would “fulfill a promise we had made since we were children… a love for Inter that will overcome every obstacle and every overcomes the border.”
Those who were present at the KSU Stadium on Monday for Inter’s 1-0 win over Napoli could not have regretted it. A few took turns hoisting the trophy, with Martínez handing it over as the players gathered under the stands. This was the club’s first success since he succeeded Samir Handanovic as captain last summer.
Martínez has already been prolific for Inter, scoring 28 goals last season and 25 the year before. He is on course to easily surpass those numbers this season, with 21 already in 27 appearances.
From the start of this season, all eyes were on him. Following the departures of Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku, Inter manager Simone Inzaghi had no choice but to build the attack around the Argentine. There are worse people who could do it. It was Inzaghi who restored Ciro Immobile to Lazio after disastrous spells in Germany and Spain, allowing the striker to equal Serie A’s single-season scoring record.
Inter found a perfect foil in the summer transfer window and brought in Marcus Thuram on a free transfer. Martínez likes to wander around and drift from high central positions to positions where he thinks he can receive the ball. Where Dzeko and Lukaku were more static, Thuram is mobile; he is as happy attacking the spaces vacated by Martínez as he is moving wide to deliver a cross.
Their ease of working together has been the main factor in Inter scoring 49 goals in twenty Serie A matches. They took that form to the Super coppaThuram scored the opener in Inter’s 3-0 defeat of Lazio in the semi-final. Martínez went without a strike of his own for once.
Monday’s final was a very different match. Napoli, the reigning Serie A champions, staged a dismal title defense by hiring and then firing Rudi Garcia before suffering further losses under his replacement Walter Mazzarri. They are ninth in the league and traveled to Saudi Arabia without their top scorer, Victor Osimhen, who is competing with Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Yet they had shown signs of turning things around during their own 3-0 semi-final victory against Fiorentina, with Mazzarri abandoning the 4-3-3 of his predecessors and switching to the back three where he played much of the of his career preferred. . The same tactic was effective against Inter, with Napoli ceding possession but still pressing aggressively to disrupt the opponent’s build-up play and look for opportunities to counter.
The first half was full of fierce tackles, but few clear-cut chances. The home crowd were sharply reminded of the setting of this match at the break when an attempted minute’s silence for Gigi Riva, the Italian men’s national team’s all-time top scorer who died on Monday, was met with whistles by local fans. The same thing happened for Franz Beckenbauer earlier this month during the Supercopa de España.
Set against the image of a visibly moved Mazzarri, who seemed to learn of Riva’s death in real time, it was a shocking moment. Organizing this tournament in Saudi Arabia has clear economic benefits: the winners will take home eight million euros in prize money, but the question of what it has done for the image of the competition should be raised. The KSU stadium was less than half full during the Napoli semi-final.
Napoli started the second half with their most threatening moment of the match as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tested Yann Sommer with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area. But then Giovanni Simeone was sent off due to a double booking. Antonio Rapuano, slow to show anyone a card in the first half, turned from laissez-faire to fussy without warning, and the first of the striker’s two yellows looked harsh in the context of challenges faced by Hakan Calhanoglu had gotten away.
Still, the match almost ended in penalties. Napoli dug in and Inter were wasteful, with Thuram betraying the nervousness of the occasion when he got his feet muddled on a couple of shooting chances.
Martínez was not bothered by that. When the excellent Benjamin Pavard completed a low pass across the six-yard box in the 91st minute, the Inter captain finished with confidence. Mazzarri, who was seen shouting “vergogna” – “embarrassing” – the referee immediately left the sideline after Simeone’s red card and went to the dressing room.
There were echoes of 2012 Super coppa in Beijing, when he and his Napoli team boycotted the medal ceremony after a loss to Juventus marked by controversial decisions. Mazzarri’s players were present on this occasion, but again he was not.
Napoli may still gain positive points from the defeat. If they can reproduce such performances in Serie A, they still have time to fight their way back into the Champions League race. Newcomer Pasquale Mazzocchi started and put in a solid performance at left back, while Giovanni Di Lorenzo adapted well to playing in a back three.
Conversely, this victory could still cost Inter dearly. Nicolò Barella picked up a yellow card, meaning he will be suspended for Sunday’s league match against fourth-placed Fiorentina. Juventus also took advantage of Inter’s absence last weekend to move ahead of them into first place. The difference is only one point, and the Nerazzurri you have a race ahead of you, but there is a different pressure when you no longer set the pace.
Martínez had dismissed questions about whether he would watch Juventus this weekend, saying his focus was squarely on Napoli. “This cup was an important goal for our season,” he said at full-time. “Especially after we were eliminated from the Coppa Italia [by Bologna].”
They have claimed the Super coppa every year since Simone Inzaghi took charge. He has now won this trophy more than any other manager: five times in total, with two wins at Lazio. It has been part of a cup double in each of the past two seasons, but with the Coppa Italia off the table, the pressure is on to pursue bigger goals.
Serie A is the priority as Inter look for a twentieth Scudetto that will allow them to place a second star above their club badge. But the Champions League no longer seems an impossible goal after last season’s run to the final. The question hanging in the air is whether this triumph has expanded in the first place Super coppa will become another stimulating moment, or instead it will be looked back on as an exhausting journey at a crucial moment as the season enters a decisive phase.