21st Scudetto
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Inter Milan have been crowned Serie A champions once again to cement their recent standing as the dominant force in Italian football. Napoli’s 0-0 draw with Como on Saturday, followed by AC Milan’s 2-0 defeat to Sassuolo on Sunday, ensured I Nerazzurri only needed one point from their final four games to secure the Scudetto. They went one better against Parma on Sunday, with Marcus Thuram and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring in either half to hand Cristian Chivu’s men a 2-0 victory, crowning them champions of Italy for a 21st time. For many months across the season, several clubs held realistic ambitions of winning the title but Inter pulled away across the closing stages.
There was significant pressure on Chivu early in his tenure after replacing legendary boss Simone Inzaghi in the summer, but he silenced many of his critics by winning the league. The Romanian has also achieved a rare feat in Serie A, becoming the first non-Italian manager to win the title since José Mourinho in 2009/10.
Inter have reclaimed their crown as kings of Italy after Napoli won the Scudetto last season and it’s their 21st title in total – now two ahead of their city rivals. Inter have the best squad in the country, valued at almost €100m more than second-placed Juventus, but their triumph is still an impressive achievement. To get the inside track on Inter’s success, we’ve spoken to Stefano Buonfino, Serie A expert at Transfermarkt, to gain more knowledge.
What are the main factors behind Inter’s Scudetto success?
First and foremost, they have the squad with the most top players, built around a spine that has remained largely unchanged for years – Alessandro Bastoni, Denzel Dumfries, Nicolò Barella, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez. This has ensured that they are a genuine group and team rather than just a collection of individual stars. Furthermore, beyond the top players, the squad is deep and there has almost never been any difficulty in covering even long and significant absences. Everyone feels important, even the substitutes, thanks in part to the work of the captain and the manager.
Why have they been so dominant in Serie A?
A number of factors. Certainly their strength, which allowed them to fight properly even during the most difficult periods when criticism rained down, for example for failing to win head-to-head matches, even whilst playing well. Then this year, for the first time, there was less pressure as they started as underdogs for the title, because they were coming off a season without trophies and a 5-0 loss in the Champions League final.
For many journalists, the end of an era had arrived – a view fuelled further by the arrival of an inexperienced manager with just 13 matches in charge in Serie A and at professional level. Finally, other teams had issues, with Milan and Juve failing to measure up and Napoli grappling with numerous injuries, often resulting from Conte’s training methods.
How much have perceptions changed on Cristian Chivu?
Enormously. At first, he just seemed like just a good communicator, and many tipped him to be the first manager sacked in Serie A, especially after the first two defeats. Then he proved everyone wrong by keeping the squad united, giving everyone a chance, including the youngsters and allowing them to develop, and winning every match against the lesser teams. In the second half of the season, paradoxically, there were some poor performances in head-to-head clashes, yet they still won, being more cynical.
After that, clearly his greatest achievement is having picked up the pieces from last year’s crisis and given continuity to the project by bringing in young players, but tactically, beyond introducing greater aggression in the first press, much of the credit remains with his predecessor, Inzaghi, because his influence is still evident and it would have been foolish to revolutionise everything in a team that was working.
The real challenge for Chivu may well come next season, given that there will be other changes, with some veteran players leaving, and he will also have to make amends for the poor Champions League exit against Bodø/Glimt.
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