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Juventus and Inter: personality makes a difference
Bianconeri won against Udinese in injury time, Nerazzurri were equalized by Sampdoria at 89th minute. “It’s the worst game of this season”, Mazzarri said. And Inter coach has good reasons to worry
by Pasquale Notargiacomo
Personality makes a difference between Inter and Juventus. Yesterday's games clearly showed this. The Nerazzurri lost two points at the 89th minute against Sampdoria, which equalized the game thanks to Renan's goal. So the new president Erick Thohir, welcomed at San Siro by 54 Inter's legends, couldn't celebrate his debut with a win. On the other hand, at the 91st minute of Juventus-Udinese, Fernando Llorente scored the goal which gave the Bianconeri three points. The Spaniard striker has found the net in each of his last 3 Serie A appearances, becoming decisive for Antonio Conte.

 

Juventus's coach praised the spirit of his team, which never stopped believing in the victory: “My lads were remarkable” - he said - “we approached the encounter following our Champions League match in midweek, but more than held up from a physical point of view.” Thanks to this win Bianconeri increase the gap with Roma (blocked by Atalanta 1-1), leading with 3 points over Rudi Garcia's team.

 

On the Inter side Walter Mazzarri used different words after the Sampdoria game: "In terms of the way I see football, it's the worst game my team has played this season”. One stat can reveal the shortcomings of his team. Inter had just 2 shots on target today against Sampdoria, the lowest tally for the Nerazzurri this season, definitely too shy. Nerazzurri achieved the second consecutive draw (6 in the aggregate) with the same result (1-1) of Bologna game. And the team failed for the second time the chance to rise to the third place on the table. However yesterday the quality of their match was decisively more disappointing than one week ago. “We've always taken the game to our opponents, attacked them, like at Bologna for example. Today though we were a bit off-colour. We didn't go and meet them high up the pitch as I like us to do normally” Inter coach added.


Erick Thohir should have dreamed another epilogue for his first match on the stands of the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. Also if he didn't dramatize the draw: “I think the team will improve. We have to be good for the 90 minutes, not only 45. We have to accept the result. it's not just an entertaining game but you can also have drama”, he said after the match. Who knows what Inter's Legends – who came onto the pitch before the match -  thought. Among others Sandro Mazzola, Mario Corso, Jair da Costa, Roberto Boninsegna, Luis Suarez, Giuseppe Bergomi, Riccardo Ferri, Luis Figo, Marco Materazzi, Tarcisio Burgnich, Gianluca Pagliuca, Francesco Toldo. Another former Inter player, Sinisa Mihajlovic, now on Sampdoria's bench, ruined the party.

 

Walter Mazzarri has his good reasons to worry about the future. After 14 matchdays Inter still have 27 points. Last year, at the same point - lead by Andrea Stramaccioni - they achieved 28 points, one more. Besides the table Nerazzurri seem to have lost their spirit, which had been impressive at the beginning of this season. Also the previous influence of the trainer on his lads seems to have faded. Inter still has the best attack (31 goals) and the fourth defense (14 goal), but it is still looking for its personality, as the Sampdoria game reveals. This is the real “surplus value” for one team, as shown by Juventus again. 

Monday, December 2 nd, 2013
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