MY ACCOUNT
Simone Inzaghi lauded his Inter Milan players for an outstanding first half of the Serie A season, pointing out a successful defence of the Scudetto was not always widely expected.
Inter are favourites for a second straight title heading into the second half of the campaign having created a gap at the top of the table through 19 matchweeks.
In beating Torino 1-0 on Wednesday, the Nerazzurri moved seven points clear of Napoli and Milan, who were both in action later the same day.
But Inter had to withstand a tumultuous off-season to get to this point, losing coach Antonio Conte and star players Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and, to health issues, Christian Eriksen.
It was not necessarily a given then that the champions would maintain their form from last term, reaching the end of 2021 having scored 104 goals (the most since Milan’s 120 in 1950) and won 32 matches (trailing only Juventus’ 33 in 2016) in Serie A.
The Torino game, settled by Denzel Dumfries’ latest strike, was not Inter’s best display either but marked a sixth straight win without conceding for the first time in their top-flight history.
A delighted Inzaghi, who left Lazio to join Inter at the end of last season, told a news conference: “I immediately had great confidence when I joined and met the squad.
“Now, it is probably convenient for everyone to saw that Inter are a juggernaut and are the favourites, but I remember in July that’s now what people were saying.
“The players have been good, but for us these results must be motivation to keep pushing, as a journey full of pitfalls awaits us.”
Dumfries is not an obvious difference-maker in the final third, scoring twice in 30 Eredivisie games for PSV last season, but he now has three in 16 in Serie A.
Five team-mates have four goals or more, with Inter now boasting options in attack as well as an increasingly sturdy defence.
Defender Alessandro Bastoni told DAZN: “We’ve gone on a good run of not conceding goals after a tough start.
“It was important to re-establish a solid defence in line with what we were doing last season and we’re doing great in that regard.
“Coach Simone Inzaghi’s approach gives us an element of surprise which we were perhaps lacking last year. We have a great time together on the pitch and we get on great together. The new players have slotted right in.
“We’re on a great winning run and we want to keep this up. We want to experience the feeling of winning the Scudetto, which we got to enjoy last season.”
