Derby, championship and second star, all in one night. A magical night, which the Nerazzurri fans will never forget. But what were the main stages of this incredible season?
Watch out for those three
The race for the twentieth championship begins on an August night where it will end eight months later, at the Meazza, with the 2-0 against Monza scored by Lautaro. In midfield Barella, Calhanolu and Mkhitaryan start from the 1st minute, a trio that Inzaghi will practically never give up again. On the fourth day, a Saturday, Milan were overwhelmed 5 to 1: it was the fifth success out of five in the derby and five – the following Sunday, in Empoli – also became consecutive victories. It’s still summer, at the end of September, when the first cold shower arrives: 1-2 at home against Sassuolo. It will be the first and only defeat of the season in the league, but no one can imagine it yet.
Juve tries
Thanks to the Champions League commitments (in which, however, the coach makes a fair amount of turnover, making it clear what the priority of the year will be), there is room for another small slowdown, an internal draw with Bologna which however precedes a new streak of four successes. In Turin, with Juve seeming to be the only one capable of keeping up, it ends 1-1, an equal result of mutual respect, signed by Vlahovic and Martinez. There’s no time to even ask questions, and the Nerazzurri score another set of victories: 11 goals to zero against Napoli, Udinese, Lazio and Lecce. Madama, however, is always there, with a string of consecutive successes, often ‘short-sighted’.
Winter samples
As platonic as you want, the title of winter champion was achieved despite the equalizer against Genoa and the hard-fought 2-1 against Verona who missed the equalizing penalty in the 10th minute of added time. But just when someone fears a physiological slowdown, another push arrives culminating in the 0-1 against Fiorentina (Lautaro, again). In the 23rd minute at the Meazza the Allegri gang was on stage and the final 1-0 (own goal by Gatti) did not do justice to the clear superiority of the Nerazzurri. It’s February 4th, the scent of a decisive tear is in the air. The superiority over the rest of the group becomes overwhelming: 4-2 against Roma at the Olimpico in a comeback with a final victory from Bastoni, a double 4-0 against Salernitana and Lecce, then two narrow victories over Genoa and the revelation Bologna. At Dall’Ara Bisseck scores, another defender: the working class in heaven.
Champions bitterness and final rush
Now without rivals in the championship and with an advantage that expands round after round, Inzaghi’s boys try to repeat the previous year’s path in the Champions League but in the round of 16, Cholo Simeone’s Atletico stands in the way: between the legs and on the return leg Inter wasted too much – one of the few limitations of the season – and penalties resulted in elimination. The wound burns, and will burn again, but after the 1-1 draw with Napoli there are two successes against Empoli and in Udine. Friuli’s 1-2, achieved in the 95th minute by Frattesi – an international who regularly has to be content with starting from the bench for the Nerazzurri – combined with Milan’s subsequent equalizer in Sassuolo gives Inter the most coveted chance, that of arithmetically putting the hands on the title with five days to spare and at the home of their rivals. The rest is tonight’s history.