When he was done celebrating Inter’s win over Juventus on the pitch, Hakan Calhanoglu switched over to social media, posting a shirtless picture of himself on Instagram with the message: “We are not done yet.” His teammate Marcus Thuram was merciless with a one-word reply: “Photoshop.”
Calhanoglu denied it, of course, but perhaps he should have fired back. No still image could ever dazzle Inter’s fans like the pass he played in the first half of Sunday night’s game. From inside his own half and just to the right of the centre-circle, Calhanoglu released Federico Dimarco with a 60-yard ball that bypassed the entire Juventus team. The full-back crossed for Thuram to score. Instead, Bremer slid in and took the ball off the Frenchman’s toes.
Nobody could blame Thuram in earnest. Dimarco’s centre had been a little behind him and this was an exceptional recovering tackle. Still, the striker may have been a little relieved when a different Juventus player put the ball into their own net after he failed to connect with another cross 10 minutes later.
This time the delivery came from Nicolò Barella on the right. Benjamin Pavard found space at the near post and attempted an acrobatic scissor kick which missed the ball completely. Thuram got in front of Juventus’s Federico Gatti in the middle but could not stoop low enough to get his head on it. His marker gave them both a reprieve, chesting the ball past a wrongfooted Wojciech Szczesny.
A goal to end the title race? It was the only one of this game, delivering Inter a 1-0 victory that extends their lead over Juventus to four points with a game in hand. Simone Inzaghi maintained his line afterward that this match was important – “importantissima” in fact – but with 16 games left in the season hardly decisive.
It is extraordinary that we ever had a title race to begin with. Inter have set a blazing pace, with 57 points now from 22 games. Only once in club history have they performed better – in 2006-07 – the year after the Calciopoli scandal that saw Juventus relegated to Serie B. At the corresponding point last season, Napoli’s 59 points gave them a lead of 15 over second place.
Inzaghi’s Inter are brilliant from top to bottom. They were supposed to be weakened by the summer departures of André Onana, Milan Skriniar, Marcelo Brozovic, Robin Gosens, Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku, yet their replacements have only made them stronger.
In goal, Yann Sommer has 14 clean sheets from 22 appearances. Thuram has emerged as a perfect foil to Lautaro Martínez up front. Pavard has claimed a starting spot on the right of Inter’s back three, his versatility making him a perfect fit in Inzaghi’s fluid, quick-strike system. Against Juventus, he played from box-to-box, with Calhanoglu, Barella and the right-back Matteo Darmian taking turns to fill spaces when he ventured forward.
Massimiliano Allegri’s Bianconeri, too, have raised their levels. Before Sunday, they had lost only a single game all season – away to Sassuolo in September. Coincidentally, Gatti scored an own goal that day as well.
Their football has not always dazzled. From the start of this season through December, Juventus appeared as the most literal embodiment of Massimiliano Allegri’s “corto muso” mantra, the idea – borrowed from horse racing – that coming first by a “short head” was just as good as doing so by several furlongs. Juventus won 13 of their first 18 matches but only three by more than a single goal.
Things changed, though, at the start of 2024. Juventus opened the year with a 6-1 rout of Salernitana, then followed up with a 4-0 over Frosinone and 3-0s against Sassuolo and Lecce. Dusan Vlahovic, a striker who previously struggled to live up to the €70m plus bonuses that Juventus paid to sign him from Fiorentina in January 2022, suddenly had six goals in five matches. Kenan Yildiz, the 18-year-old forward prodigy promoted from the Next Gen side, appeared to have unlocked him.
It all set the stage for one of the biggest Derby d’Italia fixtures in decades. Only once since Calciopoli have these teams engaged in a truly competitive title duel: in 2019-20, Antonio Conte’s first season as manager of Inter. Juventus prevailed back then, but it was the beginning of the end of their nine-year domination of Italian football. The scenery looks very different these days, Serie A boasting a different winner in each of the last four years.
On Sunday, however, Inter showed themselves once more to be a class above. Juventus carved out only one clear goalscoring opportunity at San Siro, Vlahovic letting himself down with a heavy touch after Weston McKennie – playing the best football of his career after a dismal chapter at Leeds – rampaged forward from midfield.
Only a series of brilliant last-gasp interventions prevented Inter from adding to Gatti’s own goal. After Bremer’s tackle on Thuram, Szczesny followed up by denying Barella and Marko Arnautovic from point-blank range.
Inzaghi was right to say that one game in February will not seal anything. As he had pointed out in the buildup, Juventus’s great advantage this season is a lighter schedule – owing to their one-year suspension from European competition, a punishment for financial rules breaches.
This was Inter’s 31st game of the season, and Juve’s 25th. Inzaghi’s team have the first of two Champions League legs against Atlético Madrid coming up this month as well as an extra Serie A fixture, against fourth-placed Atalanta, that had to be pushed back while they were travelling to Riyadh for the Supercoppa in January.
Friday: Lecce 3-2 Fiorentina
Saturday: Bologna 4-2 Sassuolo, Frosinone 2-3 Milan, Empoli 0-0 Genoa, Udinese 0-0 Monza
Sunday: Inter 1-0 Juventus, Atalanta 3-1 Lazio, Napoli 2-1 Verona, Torino 0-0 Salernitana
Many things could yet change, including injuries or suspensions at inopportune times. Still, the last three weeks tell a story: Inter recording back-to-back wins over Lazio, Napoli, Fiorentina and now Juventus without conceding a single goal.
Their CEO, Beppe Marotta, repeated a line we have heard from a few people in recent months, saying that last season’s run to a Champions League final gave this team a confidence boost that is allowing them to raise their game further.
They are playing at a level that few Italian teams have touched in recent years. After Inter’s 3-0 win over Lazio in the Supercoppa semi-final, Maurizio Sarri – a manager who owns Serie A and Europa League winners medals, and who coached in the Premier League – observed that “they move the ball at a speed I’ve rarely seen”.
Calhanoglu was mocked – even by some of his own team’s fans – for stating last spring that he believed himself to be among the top five players in the world at his position. It would be difficult for anyone who has paid attention over the last year to be so dismissive. No filters or Photoshop are required to illustrate the truth that both he and Inter are reaching new levels.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inter Milan | 22 | 41 | 57 |
| 2 | Juventus | 23 | 22 | 53 |
| 3 | AC Milan | 23 | 19 | 49 |
| 4 | Atalanta | 22 | 18 | 39 |
| 5 | Bologna | 22 | 7 | 36 |
| 6 | Roma | 22 | 10 | 35 |
| 7 | Napoli | 22 | 6 | 35 |
| 8 | Fiorentina | 22 | 6 | 34 |
| 9 | Lazio | 22 | 2 | 34 |
| 10 | Torino | 22 | 1 | 32 |
| 11 | Genoa | 23 | -2 | 29 |
| 12 | Monza | 23 | -7 | 29 |
| 13 | Lecce | 23 | -9 | 24 |
| 14 | Frosinone | 23 | -13 | 23 |
| 15 | Sassuolo | 22 | -13 | 19 |
| 16 | Udinese | 23 | -14 | 19 |
| 17 | Cagliari | 22 | -17 | 18 |
| 18 | Verona | 23 | -11 | 18 |
| 19 | Empoli | 23 | -21 | 18 |
| 20 | Salernitana | 23 | -25 | 13 |
