2 days ago
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Inter and AC Milan are the top two clubs in Serie A at the moment, but they have risen there through very different methods.
La Gazzetta dello Sport compare the two city rivals and their way of playing. In 17 league games, Milan have scored 12 goals with their first shot on target. It happened again on Friday in Cagliari, with Rafael Leao getting the winner early in the second half after zero shots on target in the opening 49 minutes.
The other night, at San Siro against Bologna, Inter scored through Zielinski with their fourth attempt on goal. Lautaro, Thuram, and Calhanoglu had also shot on target, but Ravaglia in the Rossoblu goal made superb saves.
After Zielinski’s 1-0, Inter continued to hammer Bologna, scoring two more goals and finishing with 11 shots on target, including one from Lautaro hitting the crossbar. Inter, with 11 shots on target, compared to Milan’s four, won 3-1. A two-goal margin, just one more than the Rossoneri.
On the one hand, there is the idea of the ‘corto muso’ (winning by a nose), getting maximum result from minimum effort. On the other hand there is ‘effervescent football’, full of bubbles, an abundant, even overflowing game, yet so much waste.
A clash of styles
Inter did not need to win 6-1 to prove their merit at the top of the standings, but there’s a world of difference between the 3-1 at San Siro and the 1-0 in Cagliari, both in content and manner.
In Serie A, it’s difficult to combine beauty and practicality. Typically, in Italy, those who are beautiful are impractical, and vice versa. Inter are first with 39 points, Milan second with 38. At the end of the first half of the season, a single point in the table is nothing.
The results prove Allegri right: his pared-down style of football has returned to working as it did in the golden days of Juventus. The guidelines are well-known: simplicity, no complex patterns and movements, and seizing the key moments.
Chivu, who returned to Inter with a reputation as a defensively-focused coach, is imposing a more tactical approach. He wants his players to attack their opponents and, once they’ve won the ball, to run towards the opposing goalkeeper without getting lost.
It seems to us that Chivu has taken a similar path to the one outlined by Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but further verification and confirmation will be needed. When they faced each other, Allegri won the derby 1-0 with Christian Pulisic’s goal. That evening, Inter had six shots on target and Milan three.
So, how will it end? Napoli might win the Scudetto. Antonio Conte is good at combining results-driven tactics with style, never overdoing it one way or the other. His teams play well enough and are specialists in domestic leagues, less so in Europe.
Allegri’s Milan, however, are the unwelcome guest in the title race. Solid and threatening, cynical and without European football. With Max, there is always the realistic possibility of one shot, one goal and three points. In Italy, cunning pays off. Will it be the same this time? Who knows.
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