Heaty first leg: Yann Bisseck (left) by Inter Milan in the duel with Barcelonas Iñigo Martínez
Photo: DPA/Emilio Morenatti
The mood is defiant with Inter Milan. “You never know what can happen in football. We are aiming for the final in the Champions League, «said midfielder Kristjan Asslani. The Albanian said this with the conviction of a winning goal shooter. His successful kick from the penalty point brought the narrow 1-0 victory against Hellas Verona on Saturday. At least, Inter stopped a negative series in Serie A with two defeats and a draw in four games.
In the past few weeks, however, the Nerazzurri has played the chance of a triple due to lack of concentration and a physical drop in performance. Instead of leading the table with three points in front of chasing Naples, Serie A is now three points ago. In addition, in the city duel against AC Milan, people flew very miserably in the semi -finals from the national cup competition.
This was also due to the strange dropouts of top performers such as Hakan çalhanoğlu and Nicolo Barella in midfield as well as rail players Federico Dimarco. There were also injuries from Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram. But the second suit didn’t fit either. Asslani, the match winner against Verona, played a large part in leaving Coppa Italia. The Iranian Mehdi Taremi, fetched with a lot of advance laurels from FC Porto in summer, did not urge himself as the third striker alongside Thuram and captain Lautaro Martinez. And even the German young national player Yann Bisseck did not bring the stability in central defense that coach Inzaghi promised himself.
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Criticism of the successful trainer
Even the success coach came under criticism because of the series of defeat, so much that President Giuseppe Marotta was forced to defend him publicly: »When evaluating Inzaghi, it is not the weeks, but the years. We recently had great years. And what we have achieved so far is to be largely earned. ”The job of the former striker of Lazio Rome should also be secured when leaving Barca and second place behind Naples. He can look forward to brother trainer duels with Filippo in the coming year. The more acquaintance of the two Inzaghi brothers, once a Champions League winner at AC Milan, made the promotion to series A with PISA.
At the moment, however, the more successful brother will remember how he can captivate Lamine Yamal this Tuesday. The Gazzetta Dello Sport speculated with a double, indeed triple guard on the wing. However, this would give the other rooms, which are also not very awkward on the ball, of Hansi Flicks Barcelona. Inzaghi faces the probably trickiest task of his coaching career.
Problems off the field
In addition: executor Lautaro Martinez was struck by a muscle injury and only came back to team training at the beginning of this week. His side people are drained. Inter 54 games already played. The triple success in 2010 was 57 in the entire season. Despite leaving Coppa Italia, 61 games can be this season, the three-set games of the club World Cup are added. This also sparked the debate about the inflation of the calendar in Italy.
There are also problems apart from the field. At the weekend, an Inter-Fan stood up in a dispute in an argument. Several inter-ultras are also involved in a criminal trial that deals with extortion and connections to organized crime. Because some players and official contacts with the allegedly criminal elements of the fan curve had too close, coach Inzaghi and midfielder Çalhanoğlu were recently blocked for a game.
Next football festival in the San Siro?
These are the unsightly side sounds of a season that has so far been quite successful. In the 3: 3 in Barcelona, Inter even inspired the competition. Manchester City’s trainer icon Pep Guardiola explained after the first leg: »I am surprised at how nice it was. If you play like this, the stadiums will never be empty. Inter has once again proven how well organized the troop is and how perfectly she has mastered the switching game. «
After the fireworks with six goals and one of the minimal offside, you can look forward to a second -class second leg. “Let all other appointments whiz in the evening of May 6th,” the “Gazzetta dello Sport” asked all sports lovers and non -athletes. She had explained the first leg for the “most beautiful game of the season at all”. In the game after the most beautiful game, Inter is now about everything or nothing. More tension is hardly conceivable. On Tuesday evening, you will know whether it leads to explosion or implosion.