All happy and no one satisfied. Inter and Milan go down the hill on Wednesday in the championship with two important victories which however do not allow progress in the standings: the victories of Fiorentina (decisive Zarate in full recovery) and Roma leave all the leading positions unchanged. Reversing the point of view, however, we understand how winning was fundamental, and this applies to both. The Nerazzurri, without successes in the league for almost a month, had an obligation to beat Chievo, the Rossoneri, relaunched instead by a more than positive January (10 points from the last 4 games), had to give continuity in order not to lose the umpteenth (the last?) train for Europe that counts.
They both made it and for once without excessive suffering. Sure, Inter's 1-0 win over Chievo was less convincing than Milan's 2-0 in Palermo, on the other hand it was hard to think that the derby didn't leave aftermaths, in one direction or another. The Rossoneri entered the Barbera on the wings of enthusiasm and finished the game in less than a half, while the Nerazzurri felt the weight of the defeat on their shoulders and had a much harder time securing the 3 points.
However, they arrived with a goal from Icardi (48', close tap-in after a scrum), demonstrating how fundamental the Argentine is for the team's fate. “We've never doubted him, we know he'll score a lot again this year – explained Ausilio, again in front of the microphones given Mancini's disqualification. – The 1-0 is enough for us because it brings 3 points and this was the most important thing. The result is narrow, we played well for most of the match suffering a little only in the final”.
Inter promoted, but with the so-called asterisk. However, continuing like this, what will soon disappear from Milan's report cards, who came out of Palermo with a convincing 2-0 also from the point of view of the game. The Rossoneri, with their third victory in their last 4 games, seem to be growing day by day and this means that the dream of third place, shelved after Barbara Berlusconi's declarations before the derby, becomes at least possible again.
“I was looking for answers and I got them – commented Mihajlovic. – We had to win to give our path some continuity and we succeeded by dominating the first half and controlling the second, even if I would have preferred to end it permanently. The 2-0 is "sparkling", if we had scored the third goal we would have become champagne". The metaphor of the bottle continues but certainly the Milan seen at Barbera was not "gazzosa".
From the beginning we saw a team that dominated the pitch and Bacca's goal (19', assist by Abate) was only the logical consequence. In the 32nd minute the episode that secured the victory: hand ball by Goldaniga, penalty and goal by Niang, protagonist of an argument with Bacca himself to decide who should kick. “They're both penalty takers, whoever feels like it shoots – glossed over Mihajlovic. – Then what matters is that the ball went in, otherwise Niang would have had to deal with me”.
Milan forcefully enters the fight in third place, currently occupied by Fiorentina: the advantage over Inter is only one point, the one over Milan by 6. And with 15 games available, absolutely everything can still happen.
