Inter Milan wrapped up their Serie A season with knowledgeable 2-0 victory over 10-man Como on Friday, because of targets from Stefan de Vrij within the twentieth and Joaquin Correa within the 51st minute. Nevertheless, the consequence finally wasn’t sufficient to retain their Scudetto crown, as Napoli held their nerve with a 2-0 win over Cagliari to clinch the title.
Inter entered the ultimate day trailing Napoli by a single level and wanted a slip-up from the leaders to have any likelihood of overtaking them. Regardless of doing their half on the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Simone Inzaghi’s aspect have been compelled to accept second in a gripping title race.
Groups
For Como, Sergi Roberto, Assane Diao and Alberto Dossena missed the final-day conflict via harm, whereas Edoardo Goldaniga needed to sit it out via yellow-card suspension.
For the final time in his skilled profession, Pepe Reina stood between the posts. Fullbacks Mergim Vojvoda and Alex Valle flanked centre-backs Ignace van der Brempt and Ivan Smolcic in defence. The midfield trio consisted of Maximo Perrone, Maxence Caqueret and Lucas da Cunha, whereas up entrance, striker Anastasios Douvikas had the assist of Nico Paz and Gabriel Strefazza from large positions.
As for Inter, they have been nonetheless with out long-term absentee Valentin Carboni, in addition to Piotr Zielinski and Benjamin Pavard. Inzaghi deviated barely from his standard 3-5-2 form, deploying his males in a 3-4-2-1 this time.
With Yann Sommer in objective, Carlos Augusto was named within the again three along with De Vrij and Yann Bisseck. Hakan Calhanoglu was joined by Kristjan Asllani in the course of the park, with each Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan given a little bit of relaxation, although Barella did come off the bench for the ultimate third of the match. Matteo Darmian and Federico Dimarco performed on the flanks. In assault, Correa and Nicola Zalewski supported Mehdi Taremi. The same old duo of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram sat the sport out, preserving their power for the upcoming Champions League closing.
Key moments
Inter practically struck early via Darmian, whose volley from a Dimarco cross was heroically cleared off the road by Maximo Perrone. The breakthrough got here within the twenty first minute, as Stefan de Vrij powered house a header from Hakan Calhanoglu’s nook.
Inter had probabilities to increase their lead, however veteran keeper Pepe Reina – making his closing skilled look – denied Taremi with a nice one-on-one cease. Reina’s farewell, nevertheless, took a bitter flip moments earlier than halftime when a VAR evaluation resulted in a pink card for a last-man foul on Taremi.
Simply six minutes into the second half, Joaquin Correa added a second with a composed end after chopping inside his marker.
However any hope of retaining the title vanished as Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku netted nearly concurrently, confirming the Neapolitans as champions and leaving Inter to accept second regardless of a robust finale.
Inter flip consideration to Champions League closing
The Nerazzurri nonetheless have an opportunity to make the 2024/25 season one to recollect as they face Paris Saint-Germain within the Champions League closing on Saturday, and having suffered heartbreak within the Scudetto race, they might want to neglect that disappointment shortly and redirect their focus to what awaits on the Allianz Area in Munich.
Talking to DAZN after the match, De Vrij admitted that his staff might’ve and may’ve finished extra all through the season. As it’s, they didn’t need to preserve the title.
“We did our half, we knew we have been relying on others,” he mentioned. ” We couldn’t have finished extra in the present day, however now we have to place it behind us and put together for the ultimate.”
“We didn’t deserve (the title) as a result of if we’re not prime after 38 video games, then whoever is prime deserves it, however there’s a sense that we might have finished extra within the league.
“There’s an enormous want to play an incredible closing subsequent week. We’ve labored actually exhausting this 12 months and finished very effectively within the Champions League. We’ll do every little thing we will to complete on a excessive.”
