Celebratory Inter

It was a party in the black and blue half of Milan, a party that has lasted a week. Fans greeted the Inter team bus with trademark chants, flares and flags, nothing out of place in the world of Italian football. On the pitch, Claudio Ranieri was a gentleman to introduce a concept that was seen mostly in English football previously, a guard of honour for the newly crowned champions.

Celebrations & Rotation

The Inter team has been partying since they beat Crotone last Saturday/Sunday early morning here. There were more celebrations when they were together for the first time since being crowned champions at the training ground in La Pinetina. Looking at the joyful scenes, you wonder if there was any training done leading to the match on Saturday against Sampdoria. Antonio Conte rotated the team significantly for this match. In came, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Andrea Ranocchia, Roberto Gagliardini, Matias Vecino, Ashley Young and Alexis Sanchez with the regulars cooling their heels on the bench.

On A High

There were two ways this match would go. Either Inter would ride on the wave of enthusiasm and excitement or be hungover. It turned out to be the former. Inside the first 4 minutes, Gagliardini converted a cross by Young to put Inter ahead. Gagliardini then sent Sanchez through to make it 2-0. There were 2 players in the Sampdoria team that were part of a resurgent Inter in the Suning era, Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde Diao. Both scored to inflict Inter’s last defeat. One of the two, Candreva squeezed in a soft goal to halve Inter’s lead but that did little to dampen our enthusiasm. Sanchez made it 3-1 shortly after.

There were more changes in store in the second half. Samir Handanovic, an ever-present this season, albeit with some less than steady performances was taken off for Ionat Radu. Later, Andrea Pinamonti made a rare appearance and with enough time to score Inter’s fourth. Lautaro Martinez, one of the regular hitters scored Inter’s 5^th from the penalty spot. The same player had missed from the spot-kick in the reverse fixture at Luigi Ferraris. The shackles were well and truly released. Inter are back to scoring more than once or twice per game and temporarily became the league’s top scorers again. There was a relaxed air on the bench as well as loud cheers went up when Ranocchia embarked on a solo run with the ball from defence. The match ended with more team celebrations on the pitch.

Dark Clouds On The Horizon

Away from this unconfined joy, I am worried about the future with the gloomy news we are getting to hear about the club. Reportedly, players will be told to take a pay cut amidst a financial crisis faced by Inter’s owners. This brings me back to the dark post-Treble winning days when one by one, our best players left as the club couldn’t afford to keep them on their books. These players were then replaced by mediocre ones. Since taking over, the Suning group has done a lot of good culminating in this Scudetto win. To regress at this stage would leave a sour taste. Considering the age of most of the players, the club should be pushing on to add quality to the team and to achieve greater success. I am hoping someone from somewhere can give the Suning group an injection of cash or even buy them out if it means being able to strengthen without weakening the team.