With the return of the league after a two-week break, one of the most anticipated columns on Passione Inter is back. Here are five things we learned from Inter-Milan 0-1, the unlucky defeat suffered last night by Cristian Chivu‘s team in the derby.
1) It’s an extremely difficult match to comment on because Inter creates more, hits the post twice, misses a penalty, and concedes a goal on Milan’s only real chance. And yet, after the fourth defeat of the season and the third big match lost, you can’t just talk about bad luck. Not anymore. The bitterest feeling is another: with the goalkeepers switched, this ends 3-0 for us. And that’s not a detail, it’s a huge issue. Sommer… is there anything else to say?
2) The goal comes as usual: ball lost in midfield, transition, goal conceded. With the heavy complicity of the goalkeeper. And when Inter goes behind, it enters the usual psychological loop: it doesn’t shake itself, doesn’t change pace, doesn’t react as it should. The missed penalty is the perfect snapshot of the mental situation: it’s always a matter of mentality. Always. The derby, once again, we lost in managing the key moments.
3) To score a penalty, you need to approach it with the right mindset. And this mistake weighs not only for the moment, but for the symbol it represents. It brings us back to the ghosts of the past: Lautaro’s penalty in 2021 that cost us dearly, Calhanoglu’s last year against Napoli. And today? Another missed penalty, again in the 74th minute, like a recurring curse. It’s not just technique. It’s not just bad luck. It’s a mental, identity issue.
4) Dumfries wasn’t going through his best period, true. But today his absence was really felt. Allegri blocked all the central lines for Thuram and especially Lautaro, who were almost never involved. Carlos Augusto puts in effort, but on the right he doesn’t sting and doesn’t create superiority. So everything becomes more difficult. And here comes back the topic of the summer transfer market: there are no real alternatives on the wings, especially if the natural balance of the team is missing.
5) Inter still creates. And there is something good. Diouf grows in the second half, Sucic brings order and intensity. Acerbi, heavily criticized in recent weeks, is probably the best on the pitch. But the point isn’t technical. What makes you angrier is something else. Before the match, Chivu and several players had said: “We read the moments, if needed we become nasty, dirty, aggressive.” And yet, when it became clear that Sozza was letting play go, accepting a tougher game, we didn’t bite into the match. The hunger was missing. That hunger that in a derby can never be missing.
