“Where I coach, revenues increase, losses are halved and trophies are won.” It was September 30, 2022 and Simone Inzaghicriticized for a start to the championship deemed unsatisfactory, prepared like this Inter-Roma: for the record, it wouldn’t have gone very well at San Siro. Only immediately, though. Two years later, on the eve of Roma-Intermany things have changed. The press conferences have become rarer, but in everything else the weather has been gentlemanly with the coach from Piacenza, who has taken care of everything. As for revenues and losses, it would be enough to look at the latest balance sheet of the Viale della Liberazione company. On the trophies, the second star’s championship has arrived and not only that, we also include the Champions League final which looks a lot like a trophy.
It’s the same Inzaghi, more or less, it’s another Inter. But he must continue to fight and run for his goals. The first seven matchdays have made it clear that it is not last year’s championship, and that it will probably not be the same Serie A as the last two editions. It is too early to imagine the finish line, but the feeling is that Conte’s return to Italy, to Naples, and the arrival of Thiago Motta on the Juventus bench have rekindled the race for the tricolour, with three more suitors. Inter are there, not only because they are reigning champions and because they are currently second in the standings, but because some passes have confirmed one thing: when the Nerazzurri run, nobody catches them. Just do it all the time.
Hunger will be accompanied by rotations in the mini-cycle that will begin tomorrow evening at the Olimpico. The calendar seems like an ups and downs designed specifically to help Inzaghi with the turnover, at least up to a certain point: Roma and then Young Boys, Juventus and then Empoli. The traffic jam is at the end, just before the break: after Venezia there will be Arsenal and Napoli in a few days. From there, given that the coach himself has explained how scientific turnover is not his thing, it will be easier to predict when we will see the Inter of the top starters and when the so-called second lines will have more space. In Rome, to be clear, we should start with the first: Lautaro and Thuram, Barella returning, Pavard probably favored over Bisseck and so on. It’s a mini-cycle, with Juve and Napoli as exclamation points, which could be worth a good share of the Scudetto.