The Soccer Touch

The 16-times Serie A champion Internazionale Milan, beat Juventus in a great tactical game, in which Inter extended their lead in the Lega standings with three points over the second place AC Milan, thanks to their victory over Juventus (1-0). The game was played in San Siro Stadium last Saturday and it was played amazingly by the host team Inter Milan, which used intelligent tactics, pressuring and stopping Juventus from playing their game in the best of their abilities. With not an actual pretty goal, after reflecting a shot from Ibrahimovic, Sulley Muntari gave Nerazzurri the victory reaching the 30 points to have a higher lead in the Calcio table.

Coach Mourinho applied a 4-4-2 formation, putting Adriano and Ibrahimovic up front, and supporting the attack with Dejan Stankovic. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had two clear opportunities but failed to convert the goals due to Juventus defense and his bad kick execution. Moreover, Adriano did a great job on the offense by moving the Bianconeri defenders back and forth opening spaces that allowed the only goal of the match. The Brazilian striker was very helpful in defense as well, with the reinforcement of his teammates Materazzi, Maxwell, Samuel and Macon.  Materazzi worked really well in the back of the defense and his contribution was notable, he controlled perfectly the aerial plays as he kept Del Piero off balance the whole game.

Jose Mourinho, trainer of the Nerazzurri, was really pleased with his players and their attitude in the game and expressed that it was a great performance from his team, especially with the tactical ideas he mentioned and was really happy of given a small contribution to the team as their manager. 

“We played better than the opposition. The team did fantastic from the first minute to the last, those on the pitch and those on the bench. I understood during the week how important it is for Inter to beat Juventus. To beat a team like Juventus, you have to play very well. We scored a goal that wasn’t beautiful but it is three points to us,” alleged coach Mourinho.

On the other hand, the Zebras’ coach Claudio Ranieri stated his team didn’t played on their best due to Inter’s performance and the tactics applied; Juve didn’t look like the real one. He also admitted that Inter deserved the win because they were better on the field. As a result of this defeat Juventus is now 6 points behind the leader of the standings, with 24 points in 3rd place.

The next game at the Serie A for the Internazionale will be against Napoli on November 30th. This coming game will be a difficult one, especially because Napoli has been playing in great way and his eager to get to the top of the standings is really huge. In fact, Napoli is in fourth place at the table tied with Juventus on points (24 pts), but with a shortcoming of two scores (6) in the Goals Difference stats, where the Bianconeri have 8. However before that match, Inter will have a Champions League game on Wednesday November 26th against Panathinaikos FC, who is following them on second place in the Group B board.

Ally White