PHOTO: AFP
LONDON:
Inter Milan head into Sunday’s match with Udinese on the up after a show of force in Cristian Chivu’s coaching debut at the San Siro suggested they will be Napoli’s main challengers for the Serie A title.
Fans had spent the summer digesting their team’s humiliation at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, as well as the barbs of AC Milan and Juventus supporters.
But a 5-0 smashing of Torino — and Milan being beaten by promoted Cremonese — was the perfect fillip for Interisti at the San Siro and beyond last weekend, the scoreline fully reflecting the verve with which Inter tore into sorry Torino.
It was the perfect start for novice Chivu whose appointment in place of Simone Inzaghi generated some scepticism.
He might be an Inter icon who won the treble in 2010 as a player under Jose Mourinho, but a handful of matches in charge of Parma would not usually be enough for such a prestigious job.
The positive debuts of fresh-faced new arrivals like Petar Sucic and Ange-Yoan Bonny are also huge pluses for Inter, whose ageing team eventually run out of gas in the final weeks of last season.
“They are trying to leave the past behind them and this was a show of maturity,” said Chivu.
“From the first day of training, the players have… got their heads down, and that is why they were in such good shape today. That’s not something to be taken for granted after such a difficult summer (Inter reached the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup).”
Inter’s win was the best performance of the new season’s opening round of fixtures, even allowing for the dismal state of the opposition who were loudly barracked by their angry fans.
But Napoli are in good shape even without injured striker Romelu Lukaku, with Kevin De Bruyne already making waves in Naples and Scott McTominay picking up from where he left off as last season’s player of the year.
The champions host Cagliari on Saturday when De Bruyne will get to sample for the first time the passion of a full Stadio Maradona, where fans will hail their returning heroes and the Belgium star.
Napoli are looking at Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund as a stop-gap for Lukaku who may not play again in 2025, and at 32 years old can’t be guaranteed to return to the same form which helped win Antonio Conte’s team win the title.
Argentina starlet Paz has been a revelation since signing last season for Como — who face Bologna on Saturday — from Real Madrid in a complicated deal giving the Spanish giants the right of repurchase before 2027.
And his performance, including an assist and superb free-kick goal, in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Lazio highlighted the 20-year-old midfielder’s ability to decide matches.
Como, backed by tobacco giant Djarum, have again invested heavily in the transfer market and have so far managed to keep hold of Paz, who was reportedly a Tottenham target.
However Como president Mirwan Suwarso told the Corriere Della Sera newspaper that the ambitious lakeside outfit have received no formal offer from Spurs for Paz, who could well stay for at least another season.
5 – The five-goal thumping of Torino was Inter’s biggesting opening day win since beating Atalanta 6-0 in 1961.
6 – The number of teams that kicked off their Serie A campaigns with a win.
Friday
Cremonese v Sassuolo (1630), Lecce v AC Milan (1845)
Saturday
Bologna v Como, Parma v Atalanta (1630), Napoli v Cagliari, Pisa v Roma (1845)
Sunday
Genoa v Juventus, Torino v Fiorentina (1630), Inter Milan v Udinese, Lazio v Verona (1845)