When Edin Dzeko scored a 90th-minute winner to hand Inter a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Venezia in January, it looked like they would storm away with a second-straight Scudetto.
Inter moved four points clear of both Napoli and Milan, having played a game fewer then their rivals.
At that stage, they had recently won the Supercoppa and were two weeks away from a Champions League last-16 first leg against Liverpool. Inter were still on course to win every competition available to them.
However, they lost the following Serie A match, when Olivier Giroud’s brace gave Milan a memorable 2-1 derby victory and reignited the title race.
Fast forward to May and Inter, having once again had their title destiny in their own, threw away their advantage in spectacular fashion, when they lost 2-1 to Bologna – having been a goal ahead – following a late blunder by stand-in goalkeeper Ionut Radu.
The situation has now changed dramatically and Milan can afford to draw one of their final two matches and still win the Scudetto ahead of Inter.
So, taking all of Inter’s ups and downs throughout this campaign, would claiming the Coppa Italia, while missing out on title glory make 2021-22 a successful season?
It’s easy to forget now but Massiliamo Allegri returning to Juve and Antonio Conte leaving Inter to be replaced by Simone Inzaghi at the end of last season meant the Nerazzurri did not start the campaign as heavy favourites to retain their crown. In fact, following the 1-1 draw at home to Juve on October 24, Inter were seven points behind then leaders Napoli.
It was that result which started their 14-match unbeaten run. A sequence which only ended after they lost the derby.
Inzaghi has never won Serie A before and, while he is certainly highly-rated as a manager, it was expected that the transition from Conte, having lost influential players such as Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi, would be an arduous one.
Inter have shown throughout the season they are a work in progress. A team with a strong connection, who play good football but perhaps just need a little more strength in certain areas to be competing for the biggest honours.
They matched Real Madrid at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza before being undone by a late goal and even beat Liverpool at Anfield in their last-16 second leg but were eliminated on aggregate. They showed they weren’t completely overawed by the two Champions League finalists but, despite impressing in glimpses, what they had to offer simply wasn’t enough.
Perhaps it is due to the direct contrast with the previous campaign which would make Inter’s failure to win the title so hard to swallow for their supporters.
Inter and Milan were neck and neck for much of the first half of the 2020-21 and it was in their meeting around the same times as this season’s seemingly definitive derby that Conte’s side stormed to a 3-0 win and never looked back. They would win the title by 12 points.
Of course, having the title destiny in your own hands and then seeing your arch rivals take advantage of a mistake is painful and difficult to accept.
But victory in the Coppa Italia would make Inter winners again. Before the 20-21 title win, Inter hadn’t won a trophy since the FIFA Club World Cup in 2011.
A win at the Stadio Olimpico would make it three trophies in two seasons and that is huge progress for Inter.
Success becomes a habit. It may not be the one they want but it would be a trophy and continue to raise expectations, which is something a club of this stature can only thrive under.
Scudetto went down the wire with that Bologna game, so Inter fans can argue this Scudetto was won in court by Milan.
It was an already packed schedule, with Inter fighting on all fronts. If Inter played Bologna back when they supposed to, the result would have been different for sure.
Bologna have registered for the match, have sent the squad list and never showed up for the game. They forgot to withdraw the squad / announce they will not take part, so Inter won 3-0. But somehow Italian authorities have interpreted this in a different manner and the appeal was won by Bologna. Procedures are a joke, especially if not reinforced.
This kind of injustice will cost Inter another scudetto (along with Radu`s obvious blunder that resulted in a loss against Bologna).
So hopefully now everybody can sleep right, because Inter were not awarded the 3 points as should have been. Like it or not, this technicality will make all the difference.
If it wasn’t obvious that Football Italia is run by Inter fans, then this article ought to do it. No, it’s wouldn’t be a success for a holding champion under anyone’s definition or imagination. They are not rebuilding which is Juve’s excuse so this is a sign of decline. Unless the club invests and gets another coach, they’re doomed next season with a confident young Milan and a Juve who’ll move effectively on the transfer market. This is Inter’s one chance in a decade to win something decent.
Inzaghi lost the plot, which cost inter the scudetto, simple as that.
A complete hack of a coach.
This season is a disaster for inter, especially considering their grim future.
Anyone with any intelligence know that FI has always been a Milan site. The guys posting on here seem to forget that Inter are, erm, champions for a few more days at least.
“Like it or not, this technicality will make all the difference” That’s funny, it almost sounds like something you’d say after the Milan–Spezia game.
“When Edin Dzeko scored a 90th-minute winner to hand Inter a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Venezia in January, it looked like they would storm away with a second-straight Scudetto.”
You mean after Dzeko elbowed the Venezia defender and disfigured his face on their first goal? Funny how both the referee and VAR went blind like they did on the Torino penalty.
These same people talking about technicalities don’t seem to offer the same defence when Juve had to play the Napoli game. As a Juventino, I’m happy they did because it’s not healthy to win on paper. In the heads of Interisti, the principle of ‘may the best team win’ doesn’t seem to apply.
Funny how var went blind when Theo was playing dirty the whole season
Milan fan
And obviously you forgot the foul on sanchez before giroud’s first derby goal which has much more effect than that spezia game. You have to forget as undretanding footbal is hard for blind fans.
As for me, knowing we were weaker than previous season, second place and coppa are big successes. 3 years in row at least 2d place with no great team, not bad at all. Milan deserve scudetto. But, from next season Allegri will start to dominate again, until he leaves Juventus for other challenges. Inter and Milan won’t win anything for long time.
Second place is the first in the losers list. As a Juventus fan I agree with @InterFan75, winning just the Coppa Italia is not succeding at all, the same for Juve if they win it. Teams like Juve, Milan and Inter should always play to win Scudetto, Coppa Italia and CL in the same season. There should be no excuses!
@All-Inter
Just because Alexis is soft, doesn’t mean any slight contact is a foul.
Let’s be serious, all teams are subject to VAR and refereeing mistakes. Out of the big clubs, Milan were the most damaged by this. From the comical disallowed goal in the Napoli match at home to the disallowed goal against Spezia at home, for which the AIA had to apologize to Milan! and suspend the referee and the VAR officials.
The smaller and struggling clubs are hurt even more.
It is what it is.
The article speaks as if the Coppa is a shoe-in for Inter.
There’s also the other team playing it named Juventus, right.
So if Inter manage to lose both the Scudetto and NOT win the Coppa Italia, would THAT be deemed as a failure of a season then?
Laughable article
It wasn’t the Bologna match, Inter lost the title in late Feb/early March with 4 draws and 1 defeat (not even counting the derby defeat), these were too many points to drop.
Not being able to defend the scudetto and get the 2nd star, and losing it to Milan, is inevitably a failure. This was Inter’s objective from the start.
I’m sharing the love this week
No matter how it finishes – Inter have done well, Milan have done well.
And the best part is that this has been an interesting and entertaining season to watch, unlike the 7 or 8 times Juve had it won by March because there was nobody to challenge them.
Having 4 or 5 teams with a chance of the title by April is what makes competitions exciting.
So whatever happens, both Milan and Inter fans should be happy that they’ve both shown they are worthy challengers.
Well said, Vogel.
CALMA PhD Max is not escaping Rome with any cup. Beppe Marotta will make sure of that. But the clown says the excuse is rebuilding for Juve. The issue is not a rebuild but a build back slower and older with the omicron 2.0 Max variant.
A Gen X lecturing us on building back slower. Oh the irony…
I agree with Vogel…when Juve were purely walking it, it was just no fun. Football is a game and games are supposed to be entertaining. I still don’t think Juve have much competition yet and do hope that changes. Dress it up as much as you want, the reason this year is exciting is because Juve have been inconsistent. Even limping badly, they’re comfortably in the top 4. This will only change when other Italian teams start generating more revenue through owning their own stadiums rather than being at the mercy of their local councils.