Obvious difference in midfield: Calhanoglu is an absolute champion. Barella’s nice gesture and well done to referee Maresca
– Milan
And now we are here asking ourselves perhaps the most obvious, even banal question: was the scudetto awarded on February 4th? The trouble is that it is an unanswered question, because logic leads us in one direction (how can this Inter, so strong and complete, organized and concrete, practically unperforable in defence, squander a heritage of four points which could even be seven ?), but reality and history continue to give Juve hope. Reality says that the Bianconeri still have fifteen games available to try to recover the deficit – the Nerazzurri have one more, we know – and it makes no sense to cancel dreams with so many games to play; history tells of comebacks that took place by bridging larger gaps in tighter times, and even in those circumstances the leaders seemed unassailable except for falling in the final sprint. Of course, after having seen this match it is difficult to imagine that two very particular concomitant events could occur: on the one hand the collapse of Inter, on the other an almost flawless path for Juve.
inter, because it is the strongest
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Because the direct clash at San Siro confirmed what we thought and said from the beginning of the season, and what we have also repeated in the last few days: the Nerazzurri are better everywhere, in particular in midfield and in the quality of the reserves; the bianconeri have already achieved a small miracle, or a great feat, remaining in the wake of Inzaghi’s team up to this point. The difference between the two teams was evident. If we want to find a flaw in Inter’s game we can blame them for not having closed the match in the many opportunities they had, some missed thanks to the opponents (Szczesny and Bremer above all), others due to their own inaccuracies. So Juve remained clinging to the possibility of equalizing until the 95th minute, even if in the end when we count Sommer’s saves we stop at a desolate number: zero. The Bianconeri’s most dangerous opportunity was created by Gatti, the author of the decisive own goal, with a great shot from outside the area that passed just a handful of centimeters from the post.
calhanoglu model
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We talked about the merits of Inter and the sense of impotence conveyed by Juve for long minutes. Diversity, determined (as we were saying) in every department and in every player, probably has its maximum expression in the director. Calhanoglu has become an absolute level champion, he has quality and consistency, he knows how to do everything and everything well: lights up and shoots, counters and manages the pace of the match, turning it on or putting it to sleep based on the needs of his team. It’s difficult to find someone like that today, even at an international level. His Juventus alter ego, Locatelli, disappears in front of him. He too has adapted to a new position, just like the Turk, but he does not have the same characteristics and, above all, he has fallen into a role he did not know due to the emergency in which Allegri found himself, who did not have another man to deploy in that position. Not Calhanoglu, he had the chance to establish himself as a director while Inter still had Brozovic on the team, who the club only sold when he was certain that he had found an adequate, or rather better, replacement.
the gestures of inter-juve
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Having said that among the losers of Inter-Juve there is certainly the very nervous Vlahovic (in these matches sometimes one play makes history, he had a golden ball and missed a control that a great center forward cannot miss), we like to highlight the behavior of a couple of protagonists. The first is the referee Maresca, put on trial even before the match. Well, he directed a match very well in which there were no important episodes in question, but which could have gotten out of hand because it was decidedly intense (much more than the first leg, to be clear; it was impossible for it to be less intense). The other is Barella, often rightly criticized – even within his club – for his over the top attitudes. In the first half he made a gesture that may seem banal, but in this exasperated and hysterical football he is not at all. He told the referee: I touched the ball, the throw-in is for them. In the stands, watching him, was Gianluca Pessotto, someone who had behaved identically while Juve were losing a historic championship in Perugia, 24 years ago. Speaking of impossible comebacks: that season the Bianconeri squandered a nine-point lead, handing the title to Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio (centre forward at the time). Also for this reason, if Allegri still believes in it, he has some reason.
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