A draw that remains unchanged and a defeat that makes noise. The "Champions play-off" between Rome and Milan ends with a point each that saves Di Francesco and keeps Gattuso in fourth place, but the real news comes from the San Siro, where Spalletti's Inter are sensationally defeated by Mihajlovic's Bologna. The result, overall of course, is that the tussle for fourth place (today Atalanta and Lazio, in case of victory, would hook Roma and would move to just one point behind the Rossoneri) actually risks involving the third as well, with the nerazzurri much less steadfast than it would have been legitimate to expect on the eve.
It must be said that for Spalletti, if one of Gattuso or Di Francesco had taken the entire stake, the problem would have been much greater, even so, however, in the light of the difficulties shown by Inter and its performance in 2019 (only one point in three league games and the elimination from the Italian Cup), there's little to be happy about. Furthermore, the Giallorossi and Rossoneri did not make calculations, the former stopped by a Donnarumma in a state of grace, the latter by a decidedly inattentive referee (and by the Var) in evaluating the episodes: the contact between Kolarov and Suso deserved at least a "pop" on the monitor, the one between Pellegrini and the Spaniard himself a yellow that would have left Rome in 10.
On balance, therefore, the 1-1 final is everything, although the amount of play has seen the hosts much more proactive and insightful in the offensive phase. Yet it was Milan who unlocked the match with a brand new play: an assist from Paquetà and a paw from Piatek, ruthless as usual in the penalty area (26 '). But the Pole's "shot" remained an isolated episode in the midst of so much Rome, stopped only by a great Donnarumma (at least five decisive interventions) and by a hostile environment, still burned by the humiliation suffered in Florence. At the beginning of the second half, however, Zaniolo's paw put things back in place (46 '), before the aforementioned refereeing episodes and a Pellegrini post risked further messing everything up.
“Roma deserved in the points – Gattuso's honest comment. – In the first half we dribbled badly, in the second half we played better. I liked the performance, they are a great team. Piatek? He works alone, he's giving us a big hand."
“This Rome sometimes makes me angry – replied Di Francesco. - I'm sorry we have to slap to wake up. Now we have to be good at going back to the situation in which we arrived. We clearly deserved the victory even if the environment was not easy”.
For a draw that leaves everything unchanged there is a defeat that causes a sensation: in fact, few could have imagined that Inter would lose at home against Bologna. Instead, the Rossoblu, humiliated a week ago by Frosinone, managed to conquer San Siro, leaving the Nerazzurri in what, at this point, must be considered a crisis to all intents and purposes. Santander's header (32') sanctioned a sensational 0-1 which ends a terrible week at worst, which began with the defeat in Turin, continued with the elimination from the Italian Cup and ended, in fact, with yesterday's knockout .
The forcing in the second half was useless, also because it was rather confused: just think that Spalletti, with 10' from the end (plus added time), lined up Ranocchia in attack to try to figure it out. Inter's standings remain good but the risk, continuing like this, is of even questioning qualification for the Champions League: an eventuality that, considering the current situation (the rumors about Conte, beyond the denials, do not subside) would screw up the whole Spalletti project.
“I thought I'd created the foundations with which to build our performances, without ever losing a certain continuity, but today we went below what should be our average level – the admission of the Nerazzurri coach. – As in the final: why turn the ball around? We had to throw long for Frog! A couple of things bothered me, we're intimidated and we don't seem to have a strong character like that of the club."
The coach and the club, incidentally, had a long face-to-face after the match: in addition to Spalletti, Marotta, Gardini and Antonello were also present. According to rumors from San Siro, the summit did not produce ultimatums but only ideas on how to get out of the crisis. It will be certain, however, that the air around the Nerazzurri coach has become heavy. A negative result in Parma next Saturday, to be clear, would become difficult to defend.
