Bologna-Inter, Inzaghi at Dall’Ara to keep second place

Simone Inzaghi’s ambitions of reaching the second leg on Tuesday 14 March against Porto with a more reassuring classification in terms of qualifying for the 2023-24 Champions League come from today’s away game at 12.30 in Bologna and, more generally, from the performance that the nerazzurri will have in the next three matches, those against opponents within reach such as Bologna, Lecce and Spezia. In the first leg, against the same three teams, Lautaro and his teammates scored 9 points and the Nerazzurri coach is now asking his team for the same result. To consolidate the second place in the standings and perhaps to detach the pursuers. Easy task? Not even in a dream. Because against the medium-small ones in this 2023 the points left on the street were 7 points thanks to the draws against Monza and Sampdoria and the home defeat against Empoli. However, this is not the only data to beware of.

TRAVELS AT RISK

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In 2023 Inter played in the league 5 times at home and 3 times away from San Siro. He achieved only one victory, the painful one and in a comeback on the Cremonese field, thanks to a brace from Lautaro Martinez. More generally, the performance of Inzaghi’s team away from home is disappointing: in 11 away games they have earned a paltry 17 points and in the special performance classification they are only sixth, with half the points of Napoli (who have played 13 times away from St. Paul). Away goals conceded are also worrying, as they are even more than those scored (21 against 19). All right, in the last away match, at Ferraris, Onana managed to keep the goal unbeaten, but only Sassuolo, Bologna, Cremonese and Salernitana have worse numbers in terms of goals conceded.

COLLAPSE AFTER INTERVAL

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Not even another piece of data leaves the fans alone, i.e. the final result in relation to that of the first fraction which, translated into practical terms, makes us understand Inter’s ability to maintain the score accrued in the first fraction. It will also be a partial analysis of the meetings, but it means something. For example, if the matches lasted 45′, Inter would have obtained 44 points resulting from 11 wins, as many draws and only 1 defeat; in terms of points won, only Napoli (52, but with one more game played) and Lazio (48) would have done better. The collapse in the second half is evident where the goals conceded are more (17 against 10) and where the team leaves several points by the wayside. In particular, the goals conceded in the last quarter of an hour plus added time are 7: if compared to those collected in the same period by Juventus (0), Napoli (2), Atalanta (3) and Roma (5), but also from Udinese (3) and Lecce (2), the figure stands out.

SOLAR YEAR

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On the other hand, Inzaghi is made to smile by the rankings for the calendar year 2023: I agree with the difficulties with the small and medium-sized teams, too many goals conceded (especially away) and -18 compared to leaders Napoli, but in 2023 in the league only Spalletti’s Azzurri did better in terms of performance (24 points won out of 27). In second place is Inter tied with Roma with 17. This booty earned him an extension in terms of qualifying for the Champions League over Milan, Atalanta and Lazio. A good reason to think about going to Bologna and reverse the trend of the last period away from the Meazza.