Champions: Inter and Napoli aren’t good, but we like the result

Two leaps forward. Not decisive, at least not yet: to qualify for the Champions League round of 16, Inter and Napoli are still missing something. Not much, to be honest: Inzaghi will only need to win in Salzburg to guarantee qualification; Garcia will have to beat Union Berlin at home and at that point Braga will need a miracle to overtake him. We’re almost there, in short. Inter and Napoli go arm in arm, with basically similar matches: without being so convincing, less than ever exciting; with some risks that could and should have been avoided. In fact: the round of 16 is there, especially for the Nerazzurri. They should be getting them in two weeks. And they could look to the final part of 2023 – so intense, so important – without having the worry of having to get a result in the Champions League. A nice advantage in the championship.

Nerazzurri

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Inter didn’t play a brilliant match, but the result certainly shines. For once Lautaro didn’t score – they disallowed a goal for nothing, Frattesi was offside – but the first goal in Sanchez’s second Inter adventure finally arrived. Inter needs other goalscorers in addition to the Argentine and Thuram; now it will be up to Alexis to find continuity, in terms of employment and performance, so that the two owners can also take a breath.

blue

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It was another little guy, Raspadori, who dragged Napoli over the Union wall. To climb it, the Azzurri had to get rid of their current weaknesses. Lobotka, for example: we have rarely seen him make so many mistakes. The last two results (3-1 in Verona, 1-0 in Berlin) show that Garcia’s team knows how to win even without Osimhen: in the championship Politano and Kvaratskhelia had scored, this time the Georgian inspired Raspadori with magic. The starting center forward is out, Jack is in (plus De Laurentiis, always present): Napoli goes. There is one aspect that is striking in Salzburg, who were barely defeated by Inter: the age of the players. If we compare it to their ability to keep up with the finalists of the last Champions League, in a stadium packed with Nerazzurri fans, the maturity of this team is impressive. Excluding the goalkeeper Schlager and the old Ulmer, now close to 38 years old, the initial lineup was made up only of young people born in the new millennium. The Frenchman Solet, born in 2000, was the old man of a group which included three boys from 2003 and one from 2004, the talented Israeli Gloukh, who scored the goal. Do you know how many representatives of Generation Z were among the Inter owners? Zero. The kids on the team – Bastoni, Carlos Augusto, Frattesi – are all from ’99. Numbers that make you think, the mirror of a culture that not only concerns Inter, but most of our clubs: old is better.

the others

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Tonight we are playing the two teams that risk the most: Milan because they ended up in a tough group and were not lucky at all in the first two games against Newcastle and Borussia; Lazio because qualification is largely linked to the double clash with Feyenoord. There is a correspondence of loving feelings between Milan and Paris Saint-Germain: we talked about the phenomenal Mbappé’s affection for the Rossoneri colours, a passion cultivated since childhood; on a smaller scale, the young Adli grew up in the Parisians’ youth team, with whom he made his debut in Ligue 1. Stories that also come from the past, from Ancelotti and Leonardo to Ibrahimovic. But the hottest case is certainly that of Donnarumma, whose farewell was never digested by Milan fans. PSG’s defeat at Newcastle – Tonali was the starter at the time, no one imagined that he was about to be overwhelmed by the betting cyclone – made the group even more complicated than it was predicted, so much so that only one could survive between Milan and the French. To get out of it, Pioli trusts in Leao, who is constantly seeking international recognition: the challenge with Mbappé offers him an extraordinary opportunity. As for Lazio, the signs coming from the championship are encouraging: the team that last season climbed to second place is back. In Rotterdam he will find a hostile environment, like in Glasgow, but Feyenoord are of another caliber compared to Celtic. It will take technique and courage: it can be done.