Inter-Salzburg 4-0 in a friendly: Mkhitaryan, Acerbi and Carboni scored

From our correspondent Filippo Conticello

December 7th
– PAOLA (MALTA)

As if there hadn’t been two weeks of vacation in the middle, as if it were still the beginning of November: the second Maltese Inter, facing a real opponent even if full of young people, is sailing like a beauty. He scores four against Salzburg, who was in Milan’s group in the Champions League and who will face Roma in the Europa League, but in general he collects a lot of good news from this early December tour. The best is that Mkhitaryan does not seem resigned to the bench with the return of Brozovic, indeed he is so flexible that he can lend a hand in every piece of the field, especially up front: two goals are from the Armenian (Acerbi and Valentin Carboni to complete the work) and it is certainly no coincidence.

FIRST HALF

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Despite the absences from the world championship, against Salzburg Inzaghi presents an eleven that could easily battle for the top in Serie A: in front of Handanovic, the defense would be the starting one, with Acerbi between Skriniar and Bastoni, then Calhanoglu is back in the direction, admired for weeks in the lands which are from Brozovic, plus Gagliardini on the center-right and Barella on the center-left. If Dimarco and Bellanova pushed as long as they could on the wings, the tactical novelty is that Simone, alongside Dzeko, has chosen to advance Mkhitaryan. An appetizing and functional idea because the Armenian can let his imagination run wild in the role of half forward. And the result of the experiment is excellent: Micki hops like a deer, enjoys linking midfield and attack, intelligently controls every ball. And he also solves when he manages to insert himself: his first chance becomes the 1-0 at the end of an action that borders on perfection in the way it is managed by all the players. First of all from Calha who vertically draws Dzeko, then from the Bosnian who widens with his left foot for Dimarco and finally from the blue with the usual masterful cross transformed into gold by the number 22. It is just one example of the many maneuvers that develop in the first half, facilitated also from a disappointing Salzburg: this is how conclusions rain down, from Dzeko to Barella. Even if the 2-0 comes from an insertion on an active ball: Calha’s cross is cut, Acerbi’s header is punctual. He would be offside, but in an improvised 3,000-seat stadium like this one in little Paola, in the north of the island, the Var is a utopia.

THE RECOVERY

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In the second half, Asllani dealt in the middle and Gosens tried to give the Nerazzurri managers good reasons to stay in Milan as a replacement for Dimarco. In reality, Salzburg rise a bit in the center of gravity and give meaning to Handanovic’s presence: the Slovenian, now surpassed by Onana in the hierarchies, recalled with a couple of great interventions why he defended this shirt with honor for ten years. But it is always in the Nerazzurri’s offensive half that you see the most beautiful actions, with the usual protagonist. Mkhitaryan continues to duet with Dzeko with the utmost naturalness: on one occasion he even scores by digging into the outgoing goalkeeper, but is caught offside. Then, on a beautiful cross from Gosens, the Armenian misses a simple header. And in the end he finds his coveted brace with a soft touch after a Bosnian header. In short, there is enough material to repeat the experiment when we return to Italy to train, and perhaps even further thinking of Napoli: if there is one thing that Inzaghi brings from Malta, it is this extra offensive option alongside to traditional centre-forwards. And maybe even the awareness of having talented young players who flourish behind the greats: in the general reshuffling of the second half, the coach sent several onto the field, but from the most talented, Valentin Carboni, he found the poker net.