Antonio Conte outsmarts Andrea Pirlo in great leap forward for Inter
It was a weekend that promised fireworks. Lazio against Roma on Friday night, and Inter hosting Juventus on Sunday: a derby that defines Italy’s capital city, leading into a game that has long been billed as the Derby d’Italia – a derby for all of Italy.
The stakes in both games were high. Lazio, after leapfrogging Roma last season to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade, were at risk of being cut adrift from the top four in this campaign. Eighth in the table, they trailed their neighbours by six points.
Inter and Juventus had sights fixed on the Scudetto. The Bianconeri, champions for nine seasons running, stumbled early in this campaign before making up ground by winning their first three games of 2021. A victory on Sunday would place them one point behind Inter with a game in hand. But a loss could undo most of their recent gains over the Nerazzurri, and the league leaders Milan as well.
These are the weekends when the absence of fans in the stands is felt most keenly. Lazio did their best to create an atmosphere for what was notionally their ‘home’ game at the Stadio Olimpico, with a pre-game lights show and a duet between violinist Andrea Casta and the guitar player Jacopo Mastrangelo. No concert, though, could ever drown out the silence of 60,000 empty seats.
Simone Inzaghi had spoken previously of his belief that Lazio’s performances have suffered without their supporters. But it was Roma, who seemed unable to rouse themselves for this occasion. A calamitously casual Ibañez gifted possession to Ciro Immobile, via the boot of Manuel Lazzarri, in the 14th minute. The striker buried his chance, and Lazio never looked back as they cruised to a 3-0 win.
The Biancocelesti played some eyecatching football, Luis Alberto scoring a well-taken double. It was in Milan, though, that more literal fireworks would arrive.
As Inter and Juventus emerged from the tunnel at San Siro, fans of the home team began a vast pyrotechnic display outside the ground. The kickoff was briefly delayed, but the referee Daniele Doveri soon gave the signal to begin. He had to stop play again almost immediately, with Juventus’s Leonardo Bonucci suffering discomfort in his eyes – seemingly caused by smoke or falling debris.
Were Juventus put off their stride? Or were they simply unprepared? Just like Roma, they were soon blown away by opponents who appeared more motivated, better prepared and frankly superior in almost every area of the game.
Inter grabbed their lead though Arturo Vidal. In the 12th minute, the Chilean spread the ball out to Nicolò Barella on the right before attacking the penalty box to meet the return ball with a thumping header beyond Wojciech Szczesny.
This was Vidal’s first league goal since joining Inter in September, and the timing was very welcome indeed. Fans had been slow to warm to him as a former Juventus player, and his performances on the pitch were not exactly winning them over.
Antonio Conte had coveted a midfielder with winning experience and veteran know-how, yet before Sunday Vidal’s most memorable contributions had been a petulant double booking against Real Madrid, and the concession of a needless penalty against Crotone. “Gioca e non rompere il cazzo!”, the manager had screamed at him, twice, after the latter blunder: “Play football and don’t break the dick.”
Vidal did not get off to the perfect start on Sunday night, either. As he reconnected with old Juventus teammates before kick-off, he was seen kissing Giorgio Chiellini on the chest. Furious Inter supporters on social media accused him of planting his lips on the Juventus badge – something he would later insist had never been his intention.
Could his subsequent goal become a turning point in his relationship with those same supporters? He had responded on Instagram last week to one who lamented a missed opportunity in the recent draw with Roma, saying “I’ll get one [goal], then I’ll score 10.” He duly opened his account in the Coppa Italia win over Fiorentina on Wednesday. Now he has two in two games.
His teammates were wasteful on Sunday. Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku each missed opportunities to bury Juventus before half-time. Those felt like mistakes that could come back to haunt a side that had only kept three clean sheets all season.
Instead, Inter picked up where they left off after the interval, Barella striding on to a magnificent 60-yard pass from Alessandro Bastoni and placing the ball into the top corner. Juventus were finished. The only surprise, in the remaining 38 minutes, was that Inter failed to pad their advantage even further.
Had they ever produced such a compelling full-game performance under Conte? With the exception of one Cristiano Ronaldo goal disallowed, rightly, for offside at the start of the game, Inter never looked ruffled. Conte had lost all four previous games he had managed against his former club (the first two of those when he was in charge of Arezzo and Atalanta) but here he simply outmanoeuvred his former player, Andrea Pirlo.
There were no great surprises in his team selection, yet the champions had no answers to Inter’s direct running, conceding too much space to Vidal, Achraf Hakimi and the brilliant Barella. Juventus’s wealth of attacking talent had carried them past Milan in this same stadium 11 days earlier, but on Sunday the combinations of Ronaldo, Federico Chiesa, Alvaro Morata, Aaron Ramsey and later Dejan Kulusevski were all neutralised. As Chiellini confessed afterward: “They outclassed us in every part of the pitch.”
Conte was quick to point out that “one swallow does not make a spring”. The victory took Inter seven points clear of Juventus and offers Milan the chance to move 10 points ahead of the Bianconeri if they can beat Cagliari on Monday, but Juventus can hardly be counted out just yet. They still do hold a game in hand, and there is half a season yet to come.
Inter have troubles of their own to worry about, with the owners Suning variously reported to either be seeking a new buyer for the club or a minority investor to support their ownership. The Nerazzurri ran at a loss of more than €100m last year, and just like everyone else have been hit by the reduced revenues caused by the pandemic.
With the Chinese government restricting foreign investments, there will be no moves to strengthen the squad this January, and wage payments have been delayed. The latter situation is common to many clubs in Italy right now, with guidelines being agreed collectively alongside the Italian Football Federation, but that does not make it any easier to navigate.
“It would be a big lie to say these things don’t affect us,” said Conte at full-time on Sunday. “But I have been clear with everyone here: we just need to work. We need to make the supporters proud.”
You did not need fans in the stands to know that Sunday’s win was a big step in the right direction.