Juventus defeat jolts Inter’s hopes

Reigning champions Inter knew that victory in Turin on Sunday was a must to stay in contention for a sixth successive Serie A title but they failed to reach their aim as arch-rivals Juve pulled off a 1-0 win thanks to Alessandro Matri’s first-half goal.

Inter are currently fourth in the Serie A, eight points adrift of city foes Milan, five less than surprise package Napoli and one behind third-placed Lazio. Inter can bridge the gap with the front-runners if they win today’s game in hand, away to Fiorentina.

Although Inter are still lagging behind Milan in the table, a notable improvement, both in performances and results, has already been achieved since Brazilian coach Leonardo took over from Rafael Benitez.

With Benitez in charge, Inter were heading nowhere.

When club supremo Massimo Moratti sacked the Spaniard after his side’s triumph in the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, Inter were lying in a mid-table position with only six wins and five draws to show from their first 15 outings.

The most worrying aspect of their season was the endless list of injured players. Many reckoned this was caused by Benitez’s tough training regime which made Inter look vulnerable and, at times, weak.

With Leonardo around, performances improved significantly even though not as much as one may have expected. Since the ex-Milan trainer took over in January, Inter have beaten Napoli, Catania, Bologna, Cesena, Palermo, Bari and Roma, keeping only one clean sheet (vs Bari 3-0) in the process.

Things did not go according to plan for Inter in the upsets to Udinese and Juventus. Inter’s only drawn result since Benitez’s exit came against Napoli in a Coppa Italia quarter-final which the nerazzurri still won on penalties.

All in all, Inter have made giant strides over the past six weeks or so but they need to show more consistency if they are to defend their title crowns at home and in Europe.

As the Serie A title race enters its final and most delicate phase, Milan are now favourites to end a seven-year scudetto drought albeit Inter, and Napoli, could still outmuscle the Rossoneri to the finishing line.

Inter are looking most vulnerable in defence. In their last nine matches, they scored 24 goals but conceded 14. Such statistics were unheard of when Jose Mourinho was at the helm between 2008 and 2010.

Under Leonardo, Milan played some really entertaining and eye-pleasing football last season but they were also found wanting at the back. In 2009/10, Milan did quite well against modest opponents but fared badly against stern rivals like Inter and Man. United for instance.

Italian sides are renowned for building their hopes on defensive solidity. Such factor will become even more crucial now that the Champions League has resumed after the winter break.

Inter need to put their act together and stop conceding soft goals, like that of Matri on Sunday when central defender Ivan Cordoba completely mistimed his jump in the box allowing the Juve player a free header.

Inter’s upcoming opponents in Europe – last season’s losing finalists Bayern Munich – will be no pushovers. For sure, the German giants will be after revenge.

But first it’s Fiorentina tonight and failure to emerge victorious from this match might also imply that even a top-four finish could be in jeopardy for Inter.

That would certainly send the alarm bells ringing for the champions, something the club’s hierarchy never expected to happen at the start of the season.

Serie A statistics

1st away win of the season for Fiorentina who came from behind to beat Palermo 4-2 on Sunday. The Viola have now collected seven points from their last three matches. Palermo last figured in a draw on the 19th day. Since that goalless away draw with Chievo, the Sicilians have won three matches and lost another three.

2 wins and two draws from their last four outings saw Lazio remain in firm contention for a top-four finish. On Sunday, they scored a goal in each half to hand Brescia their sixth home defeat of the season. Victory was Lazio’s fifth away from home this season. Meanwhile, Catania ended a seven-match winless run with a 3-2 comeback win at home to Lecce.

4 wins and four draws for Milan in their last eight outings. On Saturday, the Rossoneri were in a class of their own as they scored twice in each half to hand Parma their third defeat in the last four outings, all winless. Parma’s most recent win at the San Siro dates back to December 1996 (1-0).

17 years had to pass for Napoli to return to winning ways at Roma’s Olympic Stadium as Walter Mazzarri’s Skyblues cruised to a seventh away win of the term. For Roma, who only managed a single point out of the last available nine, this was their first home upset of the season. Bari and Genoa shared the spoils in the only goalless draw of the day. For Bari, new coach Bortolo Mutti, who replaced Giampiero Ventura in midweek, was making his debut. The draw was Bari’s first positive result after six straight defeats.

19 out of 65 penalties taken so far went off-target. On Saturday, Napoli had the only penalty of the entire weekend programme in their favour, hot-shot Edinson Cavani making no mistake from the spot. Lazio (2), Sampdoria (5), Genoa (2), Parma (2), Catania (3) and Brescia (4) are the teams to have scored all their penalties this season. Inter and Bari have the highest number of penalties in favour – six each.

32 goals were scored on the 25th day, pushing the overall tally to 598 so far. Five players – Cavani (Napoli), Antonio di Natale (Udinese), Nene (Cagliari), Robinho (Milan) and Francesco Lodi (Catania) – scored a brace each. Lodi and Robinho scored after coming on as substitutes and so did Daniele Paponi and Cyril Thereau for Bologna and Chievo, respectively. Cavani is still the leading marksman with 20 goals – two more than nearest pursuer Di Natale.