Simone Inzaghi calls the victory over Napoli ‘a great achievement’ and hopes it can boost Inter’s confidence going forward this season. ‘The long break for the World Cup is new for everyone, we’ll see what happens.’
This was the final chance for the Nerazzurri to get back into the title race, as they ended 2022 already 11 points adrift of the leaders.
After three big misses in the first half with Federico Dimarco, Matteo Darmian and Romelu Lukaku, they got the breakthrough at San Siro with an Edin Dzeko header on Dimarco’s cross from the left.
Andre Onana was only really tested in the final minute by Giacomo Raspadori, as Inter become the first Serie A side to beat Napoli this season, only the second in all competition after Liverpool in the Champions League.
“Dzeko is doing very well, we’ve been together at Inter for a year and a half, he has technique, power and many other qualities,” the coach told DAZN.
“Clearly, being the first to beat Napoli, who were the only side in Europe’s top leagues without defeat this season, is a big confidence booster. I am very proud of my lads, because they helped each other out on the field, they were a pleasure to watch and we put in a great performance for the fans.
“There were some unknown quantities after such a long break, but I had no doubts, as they trained so well since December 2.”
Inter largely allowed Napoli to keep possession at San Siro, but also played with a high press in some periods.
“Games have different moments, towards the end of the first half we went deeper and allowed Napoli more possession, but we could’ve scored three goals in the first half too. We remained organised and concentrated for 95 minutes.
“We had prepared this game in the best way and it was a big achievement, because beating Napoli right now must give us a great deal of confidence for the future.”
Last season, a victory over Napoli started a run of eight consecutive Serie A wins, so can there be another similar streak and get closer to the top spot?
“In the last 10 rounds, we had a defeat with Juventus and nine wins, at the same time getting through a very tough Champions League group,” added Inzaghi.
“We dropped points at the start of the season, but there’s a long way to go yet, we have to take it one game at a time, keep improving and try to get everyone back to full fitness. We’re missing Marcelo Brozovic and hope he can return too, as it will be a complicated task for all the teams to play basically every two to three days.
“With this long break for the World Cup, it’s a new thing for everyone and we’ll have to see what happens. Napoli lost their first game in six months, we’ll all be back on the pitch this weekend.”
During Brozovic’s injury problems, Hakan Calhanoglu has gone far beyond expectations in a more central midfield role.
“He had to close on Lobotka today and block off the Osimhen runs, we’ve been working with him and he’s doing it really well.”
In the DAZN studio, pundit Dario Marcolin suggested that Calhanoglu is bearing an increasing similarity to Andrea Pirlo in that position.