Palacios intrigue: Inter are waiting for the signature today. Lautaro and those words of Jude

Minus one in the draw for the new Champions League. The longest, most tiring and richest ever. The most beautiful? We’ll see. There will be many new features, starting with the challenges with the big teams right from the first phase, from the single ranking to the absence of a first and second leg, always in the initial phase. It will require starting with a different pace: the group has always been decisive for the rest of the journey, but from the moment after the draw the balances were understood and calculations could be made. This possibility is excluded in this new competition that no one knows how it will work.

All the more reason it will be different Inter Champions. Last year, with great transparency – forget the statements, just look at the lineups – Inzaghi and the entire club gave absolute priority to the championship. Mission accomplished, today the encore remains a goal that they are aiming for with determination from Viale della Liberazione, and also with the awareness of how complicated it is. But it is in Europe that the Nerazzurri want and can have fun again, without the obligation to repeat the final of two years ago but with the imperative to try. After all, at a European level – even after a transfer market that started very well and ended with little – only 2/3 teams can consider themselves objectively superior to Inter. With the rest, at least they can compete.

Speaking of the market, the last few hours have been characterised by the case Palaceswhich as we were saying yesterday has very little to do with the previous Samardzic and will not end the same way. Yesterday evening, Inter and the two Argentine clubs resolved the last details necessary for the definitive green light, concerning the relationship between Rivadavia and Talleres, who will collect 6.5 million euros plus bonuses (up to 10) for the operation. The Argentine defender is now expected today to sign the contract until 2029.

As for the championship, the first two days have said – with the standings in hand – that the Juventus has put itself in the front row. Then we’ll see who will get to the finish line, and the next matchday is already a very interesting test: Atalanta is coming to San Siro, who this summer did everything they could to get in the running for the Scudetto. Inter, so far, has seemed charged, perhaps even too much: some have seen it as a difficulty in replicating next year’s super game, the writer thinks it is due to a very demanding preparation in view of an extremely long season. Of course, sooner or later they will have to loosen up, because no one waits.

He will not be a starter on Friday night, barring any surprises, Lautaro Martinez. He would like to play all the time because he has always done it and it is one of his characteristics. But the words that Jude Bellingham said a few days ago come to mind: my body is telling me that I have to stop. Here: in the unmanageable calendar wanted by those who decide the fate of football, even managing oneself becomes an absolute priority.