Inter vs Juventus Review
Inter Milan scored late to secure a 3-2 victory in the 255th Derby d’Italia against a Juventus team reduced to 10 men. The win allowed the Nerazzurri to extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points. The first 15 minutes saw no shots from either side, but this calm start was misleading given the exciting first half that followed. Luis Henrique’s low cross was heavily deflected by Cambiaso, which completely deceived goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, who tried to block it with his leg but couldn’t stop the ball from crossing the line.
Juventus responded well and equalized nine minutes later when Weston McKennie delivered a cross from the byline. After Jonathan David failed to make significant contact at the near post, Cambiaso was there to finish at the far post. Undeterred by the setback, Inter pushed hard to regain the lead and came agonizingly close when Piotr Zieliński chipped the ball over the advancing Di Gregorio as he went down, only to be blocked on the line by Gleison Bremer. Remarkably, the Nerazzurri nearly took the lead again before halftime when Marcus Thuram’s initial header was saved but fell to Alessandro Bastoni, who hit the post from close range, with the ball then bouncing across the goal and hitting the opposite post.
After surviving that scare, Juventus were reduced to 10 men moments later when Pierre Kalulu received a second yellow card for tripping Bastoni, leaving the Frenchman furious at the decision. Inter had won 18 of their previous 20 league matches this season when scoring first (with one draw and one loss), but they clearly had more work to do in this back-and-forth game. After the break, Yann Sommer was kept busy, making a strong save to deny Cambiaso’s shot following an ambitious solo run, and then stopping attempts from Manuel Locatelli and McKennie.
The home side were quiet after halftime, but two powerful strikes from Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Thuram revived them before they took the lead in the 76th minute through Francesco Pio Esposito, who headed in Federico Dimarco’s cross at the far post, marking the full-back’s ninth goal contribution in five games. Dimarco had an opportunity to score Inter’s third goal but missed the target from a good position, which allowed Juventus to stay in the game when Locatelli scored with a first-time shot from just inside the penalty area with seven minutes remaining.
Di Gregorio had to make a quick save to deny Yann Bisseck’s header, but he was unable to stop Zieliński from shooting low through Locatelli’s legs and into the net. Ange-Yoan Bonny’s last-minute shot was cleared off the line by Teun Koopmeiners, but it didn’t change the outcome as Inter secured the victory. This sixth consecutive win extends Inter’s unbeaten run in Serie A to 13 matches (12 wins, 1 draw), giving them an eight-point lead over second-placed AC Milan, although they have played one more game than their city rivals. For Juventus, it’s only one win in their last five competitive games (2 draws, 2 losses), keeping them in fourth place for now.
