Inter blow up poker. Only she was missing from the appeal of the Italian teams in the Champions League, the only one not to win in a very positive two days, which after the successes of Juventus and Lazio also saw that of Atalanta, absolute masters on Danish soil with a 4 -0 without discussion. Conte's Nerazzurri, on the other hand, didn't go any further the 2-2 home draw against Borussia Moenchengladbach, moreover grabbing the draw in the final: without Lukaku's paw we would be commenting on a defeat, with all the controversies of the case.
The draw instead, accomplice the sensational defeat of Real Madrid against Shakhtar (2-3), at least avoid disaster, but not criticism: once again Inter proved to be too fragile in the defensive phase, cashing in another two goals which bring the total to 10 in just 5 games. A roster partially explainable with the absences of Skriniar and, in part, Bastoni, both affected by Covid, but still worrying, especially for a coach like Conte who has always made solidity his trademark. But above all, the draw at San Siro damned resembles that of a year ago with Slavia Prague, which later turned out to be fatal for the purposes of qualifying.
“You can't compare this game with that one – he glossed over the Nerazzurri coach – We didn't play well then, but this time we did: I don't remember Handanovic's saves, instead we created many chances to win. I have nothing to reproach the boys for, then it's clear that we can improve, in some situations we make avoidable mistakes, but what happened doesn't help us".
The reference to the Covid cases, evidently, is far from secondary, also because another rather important one arrived yesterday: it is a question of Hakimi, which thus joins Skriniar, Gagliardini, Young and Radu. Luckily for Conte that Lukaku there is, and how if there is, as demonstrated by yesterday's brace (49' and 90'), decisive to avoid a defeat that was materializing with goals from Bensebaini (63' from a penalty obtained by Vidal) and Hofmann ( 84').
Much simpler evening instead for Atalanta, back to herself after the bad knockout in Naples. In Denmark, accomplice a Midtjylland that is anything but irresistible, the usual steamroller team to which we are now accustomed, also in the international field, has been revised. It is no coincidence that the English bookmakers consider the Goddess the 13th favorite to win the final (out of 32): not bad for those who, just a year ago, experienced a terrible debut by losing 4-0 against Dinamo Zagreb and who today, instead , gets the same result in his favor, moreover away. Goals from Zapata (26'), Gomez (36'), Muriel (42') and Miranchuk (89') propel Atalanta to the top of the group together with the Klopp's Liverpool, victorious in Amsterdam against Ajax (1-0): the Dutch will be the next opponents, for what, classification in hand, could already prove to be a decisive challenge for the purposes of qualification.
"We needed to get off to a good start because then we'll have two demanding matches against Ajax and Liverpool, we'll play a lot in two weeks," he confirmed. Gasperini – Beyond the match in Naples, the team has always had good reactions, we needed to win and it wasn't easy, but I've never had any doubts that the team would start again as they know how."
See you next week, when the Champions League will give us a splendid one Juventus-Barcelona (by the way: the bianconeri have already taken action with UEFA to have Ronaldo, provided, of course, that a negative swab arrives), but also Shakhtar-Inter, Atalanta-Ajax e Club Brugge-Lazio. An amazing two days, for which all that remains is to activate the countdown…
