Christmas at the top but without a smile. Inter lose by surprise against the revived Lazio, ending their 2015 badly. The knockout at San Siro does not invalidate the first place but complicates the path towards the Scudetto dream: Napoli and Fiorentina are now separated by only one point and Juventus it menacingly approached minus 3. There's no need to make drama, God forbid, but certainly yesterday's defeat brings to the surface all those doubts that seemed to have been buried by the latest performances.
Roberto Mancini and Felipe Melo take the dock: the first for some choices that turned out to be wrong, the second for three minutes of madness that cost his team dearly. Two mistakes as ugly as they were useless on Milinkovic-Savic resulted in a decisive penalty and expulsion, recalling the Melo of Juventus times.
“I don't regret my choices, in fact I would do them all again – commented Mancini. – This game would have ended in a draw if we hadn't done this bullshit, we have to learn to manage things better. In any case, we are still in the lead and it is fair to remember that, at the start of the season, we would have signed to be here before the break."
All true, but a bad Inter remains in the eye, perhaps the worst of the whole season. The coach from Jesi, perhaps enticed by Lazio's difficult moment, has chosen a very offensive 4-2-3-1 with Perisic, Jovetic and Biabiany behind Icardi. Risky move because the biancocelesti, despite all the problems of the last period, have wingers and techniques like Felipe Anderson and Candreva, absolutely lethal in the spaces.
And if Melo's bad game is added to this (bad even without the final mistakes), a difficult evening can be explained, with only Medel to counter Pioli's midfield. Lazio were able to celebrate the 1-0 already in the 4th minute (throwing a stone from Candreva from the edge of the area), then came close to doubling the lead on a couple of occasions, however without suffering. But then, at the start of the second half, Inter came out and as a result the draw arrived: Perisic's assist for Icardi and the goal made it 1-1.
It seemed like the beginning of the comeback instead the match was channeled towards a draw. Only one episode could rekindle it and Felipe Melo entered the scene. First the penalty foul (converted in two stages by Candreva), then the red light on Milinkovic-Savic (also sent off a few moments later). Inter's 2015 ends badly, Lazio's definitely better. For now, only a wake-up call, we'll know more after the break.
Positive last day of the year for Milan, who returned to victory after two draws with Carpi and Verona. Had it gone badly in Frosinone too who knows what would have happened, instead the Rossoneri, despite many worries, managed to take the 3 points, thus giving Mihajlovic the much coveted panettone. It wasn't a walk in the park, indeed the 2-4 final risks being misleading. For a while the Rossoneri were in great difficulty, so much so that they found themselves down by a goal and a few centimeters from the abyss. Then, in the toughest moment, a surge of pride came out that allowed things to be sorted out before it was too late.
“I think the team played an excellent match – Mihajlovic's analysis. – We were behind but we were playing well, in fact in the interval I told the boys to keep it up. I think that after the defeat against Napoli we have made a decent run, if we had beaten Carpi and Verona today we would have the same points as Roma. We were missing something but I am convinced that from January we will be able to obtain some satisfactions”.
Meanwhile Matusa's victory has arrived, absolutely fundamental both for the ranking and for the spirit. The match started uphill for the Rossoneri, who after coming close to taking the lead (miracles from Leali on Niang and Bacca) found themselves underneath for yet another defensive distraction (this time the culprit is Romagnoli), which allowed Ciofani to beat Donnarumma (16').
However, the evening turned at the start of the second half: in 5 minutes Milan overturned the result first with Abate (50'), then with Bacca (55'). When Alex scored the 3-1 header (77') the mission seemed accomplished, instead Frosinone were still alive and in the 83' Dionisi's goal reopened all discussions. Bonaventura took care of avoiding the joke in full recovery (93 '), finding the goal of the final 2-4 which gave Mihajlovic the much coveted panettone.
