Escape to victory. The title of the famous film with Sylvester Stallone and Pelé is now perfectly suited to the moment of Inter very fast towards the 19th championship, the first after 11 years of waiting. The success of Bologna, combined with the draws of Milan and Juventus, digs a real furrow on their pursuers: they are now 8 points ahead of the Rossoneri and if another victory were to arrive on Wednesday, in added time against Sassuolo, they would even become 11, 12 considering the direct clashes in favour. In short, the feeling is that only mathematics prevents us from definitively celebrating the Nerazzurri's triumph, also because while Inter only know how to win, their competitors are struggling, so much so that they have to calibrate mostly on qualification for the Champions League, which is far from obvious. The same goes for Milan, stopped by Sampdoria, but above all for Juventus, overtaken by Atalanta and targeted by Napoli. For the Nerazzurri, therefore, the road seems paved, in perfect Conte style.
In fact, this team damn much resembles him, in the winning mentality, in the solidity, in the spirit of sacrifice that leads everyone to fight tooth and nail to defend the result, without thinking of anything else. Even yesterday the script didn't change, with Inter letting Bologna play and then hitting them at the right moment (Lukaku in the 32nd minute), finally wearing the helmet in a second half for a battle, obviously won. It is the tenth in a row, despite the controversy (in December, after the elimination from the Champions League, many asked for Conte's head) and corporate troubles, far from resolved beyond what happened during the week. “There are still ten games to play, for another nine. The road is long, there are 30 points to go and we know very well that the Italian championship is difficult – glossed over the Nerazzurri coach, before unbuttoning himself a bit -. As the races decrease, it's inevitable that we'll start to see something, the club called me to change the story of recent years, now it would be nice to bring something important to a difficult season and give the fans satisfaction".
Goal ever closer, also because of Milan's misstep. Wasted opportunity for the Rossoneri, who start the rush that will decide their season badly. Avoiding defeat is certainly the best news of the day, for the rest, however, we have to deal with a championship dream which, barring sensational twists, sets definitively, but above all with the victories of all the pursuers, who suck the Devil in the Champions League race. Milan appeared tired and without ideas right from the start, drained by the break for the national teams, in contrast to a courageous and compact Sampdoria, determined to wrest the maximum stakes. And so, after a first half with a strong Sampdoria hue, Quagliarella scored in the 57th minute, the result of a mistake by Hernandez, but also of a play of class and instinct by the attacker. Shortly, however, Silva, already booked, was expelled for a naive foul and Milan, strong in numerical superiority, was at least able to raise the center of gravity and create some chances.
Hauge equalized on one of these (87') and in the final the Rossoneri even came close to overtaking with Kessié, only stopped by the post when Audero beat him. However, it would have been too much, as Pioli himself recognized at the end of the game. “We did too little, played with little pace and with the wrong approach – confirmed the coach -. It was a complicated match for us, I expected a different kind of attitude. Now we need to get back to doing well right away and demonstrate that we can start again in the right way". The same reasoning must also apply to Juventus, who came out of the derby with a draw that tastes so much like soup. Certain, having avoided defeat is something in itself, especially given how the situation had turned out, but the 2-2 draw against Toro means overtaking Atalanta and hooking up Napoli. The Champions League area is therefore clamorously at risk, so much so that Wednesday's match against the Azzurri becomes even fundamental: in fact, should it go badly, the Bianconeri would be in real trouble. And to think that the derby had begun with Chiesa finding the 1-0 after just 13', giving the idea of a team ready to react after the knockout with Benevento and the related controversies.
But a goal is not enough to cancel problems that have been dragging on for an entire season and so the Bull, once the blow has been disposed of, charged with his head down, finding in Sanabria the ideal man to gore Juve. To tell the truth, Szczesny also contributed a lot to his brace, first propitiating the tap-in of the draw with a rebound a bit like this on a shot from distance by Mandragora (27'), then getting caught on his post by a strong but unpretentious shot by the Paraguayan himself (46'). The second half thus turned into a frantic search for goals which, however, as often happens in moments like this, never arrived, until Ronaldo, served by Chiellini on the edge of offside, found the 2-2 with a close header (79'). In the final, emotions on both sides, with Bentancur hitting the post and Szczesny redeeming himself, at least partially, with two good saves on the usual Sanabria and Baselli. Also noteworthy is a very suspicious contact between De Ligt and Belotti at the beginning of the match: the images leave more than one doubt about the referee's decision not to grant the penalty to the grenades.
“Unfortunately we complicate the games by ourselves, we had made a good start by going ahead, then we let ourselves be restarted – Pirlo's analysis -. We thought we could have another type of second half, but instead we went down and things got complicated. We have to understand that we can't stay focused even for a second, because every time we lose the ball we concede goals: we're not satisfied with how the season is going, we keep losing important points." Mistakes to be remedied as soon as possible, starting from Wednesday: because the time to remedy it is evidently becoming less and less.
