Now it's official, Inter are on the run. The success against Parma means that the points against Milan become 6, those on Juventus and Atalanta even 10: the bianconeri are still missing a game, all right, but there is no doubt that Conte has given a good acceleration to his ranking, significantly reducing the journey that leads to the Scudetto. The 2-1 of the Tardini it won't go down in history for the entertainment offered, like most of the games played during the season, but the strength of the Nerazzurri, paradoxically, is precisely that of almost always being able to win, even on days when others would stop. The greats of Italian football often repeat that the scudetti are won on provincial fields, in so-called dirty matches, and Inter are certainly the team that knows how to do it best.
But then there are also the qualities, because you don't get to the twenty-fifth matchday with the most prolific attack in the championship (62) and second best defense (25): better, in terms of goals conceded, only Juventus did with 20, who however scored 14 fewer goals. Conte now seems to have found an ideal mechanism and patience if the show is not one to rub your eyes. After all, he had been taken to win and the mission, as never before, seems really within reach. Beat Parma it was almost taken for granted instead it was harder than expected, both for the excellent performance of the ducals, desperate to the right point to try to avoid relegation, and for the subdued performance of some key players, especially in midfield, where Brozovic, Perisic and Hakimi struggled a lot.
In the first half, Lukaku and Sanchez had also gone off course, so much so that Parma even came close to taking the lead with Kurtic, only stopped by a great Handanovic. The Nerazzurri, on the other hand, limited themselves to a couple of interesting buck from Hakimi and a missed tap-in from Skriniar, after which they ended up submitting to the rhythms of the hosts. In the second half, however, the attackers awakened and, consequently, the match was won. at 54' Sanchez he exploited a lucky rebound between Lukaku and Brugman and beat Sepe, albeit with the thrill deriving from a near-save by Gagliolo: almost, precisely, because the Goal Line Technology unequivocally signaled the ball entering the goal.
The goal forced Parma to widen their shirts in search of an equalizer and Inter took advantage of it just 8' later, when Lukaku started in an open field in NFL style and then served Sanchez again, who this time threw directly on goal for the 2-0 neroblu (62'). It seemed done, so much so that Conte was already starting to think about Atalanta by removing Eriksen for Vidal, but the ducals still had something to say, finding the 2-1 goal with hernani (71'). However, the match remained open only in terms of results, because Inter, in fact, brought home the victory without risking anything, thus consolidating the first place in the standings.
“I think it wasn't a dirty game, both teams played and we had opportunities to round up the score – commented Tale – Scudetto escape? We are in a very good position, compared to last year we are ahead of everyone. There has been an improvement but there are 13 days left, in Serie A every game is a battle. We can leave points against everyone, we have 13 finals to play and we want to play it doing our best".
Mathematics proves him right, all the more in the league inevitably conditioned by Covid, which continues to strike undisturbed for an abundant year (yesterday Juve, just to stay on the subject, saw Bentancur's positivity). However, it is undeniable that Inter are proving to be the strongest, with a constancy that no one can have. The time to indulge in the carousels has not yet arrived, but after yesterday there is the almost certainty that only she can lose this championship.
