Taking off Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco hurt Inter (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty … [+]
Despite going into the game 11 points behind their rivals, Juventus managed to pull off a 1-0 victory at home over defending Serie A champions Inter and putting a huge dent in the Milanese club’s hope of a successful title defence.
Most frustratingly for the visitors was the fact that a win would’ve seen them overtake Napoli and move into top spot, and they were doing so against a Juve side still missing key defenders Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal and Pierre Kalulu.
Arek Milik and Douglas Luiz also missed the game with injuries, meaning the versatile Weston McKennie was pushed into an advanced no.10 role behind striker Randal Kolo Muani.
Inter start with great chances against Juventus
It was no surprise to see Inter make a strong start, with Juve ‘keeper Michele Di Gregorio called into action in the opening minutes to block an overhead kick from Mehdi Taremi while Denzel Dumfries headed narrowly over with a follow up attempt.
Dumfries then turned provider as he won the ball back and picked out Lautaro Martinez, only to see the Argentina forward fire his shot way over the bar from just 10 yards out.
It would be the dangerous Dutchman Dumfries causing problems once again as he easily went past Nicolò Savona, only to see his fierce shot smash back off the post just before halftime.
The early part of the second half was broken up by a raft of changes, Juve replacing Savona with the fit again Andrea Cambiaso, while Inzaghi made a triple substitution that saw Carlos Augusto, Marcus Thuram and Nicola Zalewski introduced.
Perhaps the most surprising part of those changes however was the sight of Inter’s best defender – Alessandro Bastoni – and key man Federico Dimarco being two of the players withdrawn.
The subs briefly gave new impetus to the visitors, Tim Weah forced into making a crucial tackle on Mehdi Taremi to stop a counter-attack, while Di Gregorio made a brilliant save to tip another Dumfries effort onto the frame of the goal.
The ‘keeper was in impressive form, while ahead of him, Renato Veiga turned in another impressive display following his fine debut that was analysed in detail in this previous column.
Francisco Conceição scores winner for Juventus
However, Inter will perhaps reflect on what happened next, as Juve repeatedly opened them up down the same flank once patrolled by Bastoni and Dimarco. First, Francisco Conceição picked out Teun Koopmeiners with a cross, only to see the former Atalanta man’s header spin wide of the mark.
Then, the Nerazzurri failed to properly clear a dangerous cross from Cambiaso, and watched on as Kolo Muani gathered on the edge of the box then spun away from multiple defenders. The ball eventually landed in front of Conceição, the winger driving it through Benjamin Pavard’s legs and into the bottom corner.
Shortly afterwards, a clever ball from McKennie released Koopmeiners behind that left side of defence, the latter beating the goalkeeper but only to see it cleared off the line by Dumfries.
The result marked only the third league defeat of the season for Inter, but worryingly for Simone Inzaghi’s men, two of those losses have come in the last 10 days as they were also beaten 3-0 by Fiorentina last week.
“There is regret and disappointment, but the lads played really well with courage, organisation and we should’ve finished our scoring opportunities better,” the Inter boss told DAZN shortly after the final whistle.
“We’re talking about a defeat that hurts and that must make us work harder and better. It’s all still wide open up there [at the top of the table], but we’ve got to step up a gear, especially in certain matches.”
That is undoubtedly true, but the Coach may well want to reflect on substitutions that clearly weakened his team and allowed Inter’s rivals to claim a third consecutive win in Serie A, a new record in the Thiago Motta era.
