Juventus 0–1 Inter Milan 1: First thoughts and random observations

Juventus 0–1 Inter Milan 1: First thoughts and random observations

On Sunday night, Juventus knew it would be hard to play the favorite for the Scudetto on their home field. That meant that Max Allegri’s team shouldn’t play like they did in the first Derby d’Italia or even last weekend.

That’s why people thought Juve, who had a great January until they lost to Empoli in Turin, could give Inter a run over their money. It turned out that those hopes were dashed pretty quickly.

Allegri did everything he could to break up what turned out to be a very tense first half in which Juventus couldn’t do much going forward.

With one of the fiercest defenses in Europe, things didn’t go well against them, even though they opened up a lot more during the second half.

Or a few flicks and tries at combinations that didn’t work. Some of them tried to dribble but ran into an Inter player. Federico Gatti scored an own goal late in the first half, which was the only goal scored.

It was enough for Inter to beat Juventus 1-0 at the San Siro, giving them a lot of room at the summit of the table and the chance to stretch their lead even further since they still had a game in hand.

Juventus didn’t play as well as their opponent, and Inter could have added to their lead in the closing stages if Wojciech Szczesny hadn’t made two of the Nerazzurri’s best chances for goals of the night.

Juve had a different story in attack. From the first minute until the end, they had trouble connecting passes in the final third.

And when they did connect in their final third, they weren’t shooting at the Inter goal. After being considered one of his team’s heroes last weekend, Yann Sommer had a pretty quiet night.

Juve ended with one shot that hit the goal. One. It happened in the 72nd minute. And that particular shot was a slow dribble from Dusan Vlahovic’s left foot from just outside the box. That shot had an xG of 0.07.

Still, that pretty much sums up Juventus’ night going forward. For every shot by Gatti that went just wide toward the Inter net, there were a lot of clearances from Juve players that didn’t lead to anything.

There was a big fight and three red cards at the end of the Italian Cup semifinal in Inter Milan and Juventus. The first leg ended in a 1-1 tie on Tuesday.

After Romelu Lukaku scored a penalty in extra time to tie the game for Inter, the Belgian striker got a second yellow booking for what looked like a taunt at the crowd.

Juan Cuadrado, who scored the game-winning goal for Juventus in the 83rd minute, and Samir Handanovic, the goalkeeper for Inter, were both sent off for fighting after the game was over. Players from both sides then tried to break up the fight.

Juventus mentor Massimiliano Allegri said, “It’s nothing. It’s just a little chaos at the end of a fair game.” “We knew it would turn out hard.” Even though they had been having a rough patch, Inter is still Inter, and tonight they proved it.

In the other semifinal on Wednesday, Cremonese, the team in last place in Serie A, will host Fiorentina. Inter has now lost three straight Serie A games, so the result didn’t help their situation much.

If Inter stays with Simone Inzaghi as coach, the results of the semifinal and their forthcoming Champions League quarterfinal against Benfica might be very important.