AC Milan is already in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Inter Milan and SSC Napoli can follow – and herald the renaissance of Italian football.
Simone Inzaghi is well versed in balancing act in football. Either celebrated goalscorer or insulted failure. Like his brother Filippo, he rarely had anything in between, even in his prime at Lazio. As Inter Milan coach, the 46-year-old is no different.
Sometimes the tifosi of his team are at his feet, then the supporters go on the barricades because of the constant dropouts. Proud Inter, currently 18 points behind leaders Napoli, have just suffered a 2-1 defeat at Spezia Calcio.
Coach Simone Inzaghi is under pressure
And suddenly, despite the 1-0 first leg win in the Champions League round of 16, Inzaghi is now under massive pressure before the second leg at FC Porto (Tuesday from 9 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de). After the eighth bankruptcy of the season, mainly against teams with a smaller budget, displeasure is growing. According to information from the “Gazzetta dello Sport”, Thomas Tuchel is said to be a possible successor.
“We won’t be able to sleep”Inzaghi said after the bankruptcy in Spezia, but was still optimistic about the task in the premier class: “We’ve had some good results away from home, like in Barcelona (3-3, ed.) and we know we have to do well if we want to reach the quarter-finals.”
Opponents Porto, winners of the 2004 Champions League, are aiming to reach the last eight for the third time in five years. The Portuguese champions have fond memories of Italian clubs. Four years ago, in the Champions League round of 16 against AS Roma, the “dragons” caught up from a 2-1 deficit from the first leg in the second leg at the Estadio do Dragao.
Milan certainly serves as an example
Ironically, the local rival AC Milan can serve as an encouragement for black and blue skeptics. Milan defended a 1-0 lead against Tottenham Hotspur with all the defensive lust that the Italian football soul has to offer. A zero number would also be enough for Inter; it doesn’t always have to be an offensive spectacle in the premier class.
Under José Mourinho, the club of German national player Robin Gosens once put the crown on functional football when they won the Henkelpotts in 2010. Incidentally, Inter now has enough attacking potential in Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez or veteran Edin Dzeko in their portfolio, although they were twice unable to score their own goals in the group phase against Bayern. Now the 19-time Italian champion is playing – most recently the “scudetto” 2021 at Internazionale – in Porto even more: the reputation of Italian football.
Serie A can bring a triumvirate to the quarterfinals
It is not entirely unlikely that Serie A pushed three representatives into the quarter-finals on Thursday night. Possibly more than England, Spain and Germany. All swansongs to Italy’s first division would then have been premature. After the impressive performance by the Europa League winners, hardly anyone doubts that SSC Napoli will still lose their comfortable lead against Eintracht Frankfurt (first leg 2-0) on Wednesday.
Coach Luciano Spalletti continued to stack deep afterwards – nothing was decided – but he also praised his prospective champion team for it, none “palle banali” to have played: not a single banal ball. In fact, three weeks ago in Frankfurt it was quickly agreed that the currently best team in Italy was also the most impressive ensemble to appear in the city forest in the recent past.
And that means something at the European Eintracht Festival in an endless loop against top opponents from all top nations. Even then, Spalletti swore to the media that Serie A was much better than its reputation. If this time a triumvirate full of determination makes it into the top eight, his thesis would be bolstered. That’s also what they’re fighting for now “Nerazzurri”.