Other than Europe! Inter lose again and, after saying goodbye to this season's cups, seriously jeopardizing their participation in the next ones. Marassi's was a real direct clash, a sort of last chance to get close to sixth place. Sampdoria won it, now alone in fourth position, albeit at the end of a balanced game, at times played better by the Nerazzurri.
“Sometimes football is also luck, we lost an absurd match – commented Mancini. – We deserved to win, I hope that, in the next matches, fate will come back to our side”. However, the bitterness remains for a very heavy defeat, a tombstone, barring sensational changes, for the club's ambitions.
Someone begins to grumble about Mancini's score, anything but transcendental. From 23 November onwards, the day of the first in place of Mazzarri, the coach from Jesi has collected only 6 wins in 17 games, against 6 draws and 5 defeats, to which must be added the eliminations from the Italian Cup and the Europa League .
“I accept all criticism but I don't think a project can be judged in 4 months – retorted the person concerned. – There are still 10 games to go, we can't think about next season yet. We have to move forward and hope that, in addition to the game, the results will also come”. Indeed, with a little more luck, perhaps we would comment on another race.
In the first half, the Nerazzurri hit the crossbar with Icardi, then, at the start of the second half, they came close to taking the lead several times with Maurito, Guarin and Shaqiri. Sampdoria relied mostly on the experience of Eto'o and the speed of Muriel and Eder, and the latter, fresh from Conte's call-up, unlocked the match with a splendid free-kick, slipping behind Handanovic after hitting the post (65').
The 1-0 lead Inter to seek an equalizer with all their strength, without however producing any particular scoring chances. And so it was Sampdoria who smiled, now more than ever fighting for third place.
“We found the best Inter of the season, it would have been more fair – Mihajlovic admitted. – Having said that, success is very important, it allows us to detach the big group. We come from 4 consecutive victories, there is great confidence but there is no point in talking about goals: there are still 10 games to go, in the end we will see where we have arrived”. The same speech of his friend Mancini, but with very different perspectives. Because if the Inter project is still, in fact, a project, that of Sampdoria is already bearing a lot of fruit.
