In the first half, goals from Asllani and Sanchez from a (disputed) penalty gave the Nerazzurri a calm evening. In the second half, however, the rossoblù’s comeback led to Vasquez’s goal which reopened the match. But in the end Inzaghi celebrates
Inter also beat Genoa, the last team that forced them to a draw (1-1 at Ferraris on 29 December), achieved their twelfth victory out of twelve in 2024 and went +15 over second-placed Juventus. The last 11 days for the Nerazzurri are turning into a catwalk towards the Scudetto: Lautaro and his teammates are relentless, while the competition has fallen apart. A piece of data to understand it better: on January 21st after the blitz in Lecce (and with 1 more match played) Allegri’s Bianconeri were at +1 and since then they have no longer been able to keep up with the league leaders. The presence in the stands of coach Spalletti, who took the tricolor with Napoli last year, has the flavor of the handover with Simone Inzaghi, who celebrates his three hundredth match in Serie A with another success, number 179. Now the coach from Piacenza can prepare with even more tranquility for Saturday’s trip to Bologna, the last match before the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday 13th. For the rossoblù, who before tonight had only lost one of their last eleven challenges, a proud performance and many regrets for Sommer’s save on Retegui, at 0-0, but also for a more courageous recovery compared to the first half. If the Grifone had taken the lead with the blue bomber, perhaps the match would have taken a different turn and instead the Nerazzurri people are still smiling, ever closer to the second star.
THE FIRST TIMES
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Inzaghi, who brings back Frattesi, Thuram and Acerbi for the bench, but still doesn’t have Calhanoglu, replaces the suspended Bastoni with Carlos Augusto and gives space to Sanchez in attack alongside Lautaro. Gilardino plays like a mirror, with the 3-5-2 and the same formation that beat Udinese. Genoa, second to last in Serie A in terms of ball possession, also at the Meazza confirm their tendency to cover themselves to try to restart with Gudmundsson’s speed, so the hosts are the ones who play the game, but compared to usual they make more mistakes and the former Lazio coach doesn’t like it. Dimarco comes close to taking the lead, but the Griffin stings when he has space: an attempt by Retegui is blocked for a corner by Pavard, but a few minutes later it takes a super intervention from Sommer to stop the rossoblù centre-forward, who makes a great cut from Sabelli’s cross . Gilardino, who sees Gudmundsson kick the tap-in high from two steps, puts his hands in his hair because he knows that such an opportunity will never happen to him again. The Inter free kick arrives immediately with Asllani scoring his first goal since being in Milan with an action orchestrated by Barella and Sanchez, author of the decisive assist. Genoa felt the blow and skidded noticeably when, after the VAR check, Ayroldi confirmed the penalty for a foul by Frendrup on Barella. From eleven meters Sanchez takes possession of the ball (after missing the penalty against Atalanta, Lautaro as captain doesn’t bat an eyelid) and kicks past Josep Martinez to make it 2-0. For the Chilean it is the first goal of the season in Serie A, a competition where he last scored on 6 May 2022 against Empoli. Before the break Mkhitaryan came close to scoring a hat trick and when the two teams returned to the changing rooms the Curva Nord, which was filled after a half hour of strike, applauded Inter loudly
GENOA REOPENS IT
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The second half begins with Darmian replacing the booked Dumfries and with Strootman for Frendrup. The hosts would like to make it 3-0 and try with Lautaro, Darmian and Mkhitaryan, but it is the rossoblù, encouraged by over 4,000 very noisy fans, who find the net which reopens the match thanks to a shot from outside by Vasquez. Gilardino gives space to Spence and Vitinha who scores the 2-2 offside, while Inzaghi recomposes ThuLa by inserting Thuram for Sanchez. Genoa, however, has more pace, keeps the ball and sinks down the flanks: Retegui comes close to making it 2-2, but heads the ball just wide. Inter are too stretched, they are no longer able to dribble and the guests are almost always in the Nerazzurri half of the field. Acerbi and Bisseck strengthen Inzaghi’s defense which ends up suffering because Barella misses the target from a good position after Thuram’s cross and because Bani saves from Carlos Augusto’s close range shot. Gilardino goes all out with Ekuban on the pitch and the 4-2-4, but doesn’t break through. San Siro celebrates and sees the second star ever closer.
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