Inter-Parma 2-0
GOALS: 46′ pt Thuram, 35′ st Mkhitaryan.
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer 6.5; Bisseck 6, Akanji 6.5, Bastoni 6 (22’st Carlos Augusto 6); Dumfries 6.5, Barella 7 (44’st Frattesi sv), Zielinski 7 (22’st Mkhitaryan 7), Sucic 6, Dimarco 6.5; Thuram 7 (21’st Lautaro 6.5), Esposito 6 (1’st Bonny 6). On the bench: Josep Martinez, Di Gennaro, De Vrij, Acerbi, Luis Henrique, Darmian, Cocchi, Mosconi, Diouf, Calhanoglu. Coach: Chivu 6.5.
PARMA (3-5-2): Suzuki 6; Circati 5.5, Troilo 5, Ndiaye 5; Delprato 5.5, Bernabé 6 (30’st Sorensen 6), Nicolussi Caviglia 5.5, Keita 5.5 (22’st Ordonez 6), Valeri 6 (40’st Carboni sv); Strefezza 6.5 (30’st Almqvist 6), Pellegrino 5 (22’st Elphege 6). On the bench: Corvi, Rinaldi, Valenti, Britschgi, Estevez, Oristanio, Ondrejka. Coach: Cuesta 6.
REFEREE: Bonacina from Bergamo 6.5.
NOTES: clear evening, pitch in fair condition. Booked: Zielinski. Corners: 8-2. Recovery time: 1’+1, 3′.
Inter sew their twenty-first scudetto on their shirt. The victory against Parma, signed by Thuram and Mkhitaryan, starts the Inter celebration at San Siro: with three days to go, Chivu’s team is mathematically champions of Italy. And he does so after a game that was anything but brilliant, but extremely effective, also because Cuesta’s yellow and blue tried to put a spanner in the works of the Nerazzurri. But they could do nothing on the Inter outbursts, one in each half, which gave Lautaro Martinez and his teammates the title. The match immediately gets on the expected track, with Inter keeping possession of the ball and Parma defending with narrow lines and trying to restart. The first opportunity goes to Dumfries, who comes close to taking the lead with a header with a nice pass from Barella’s deep ball. But Cuesta’s team also plays with courage at San Siro, not disdaining possession to try to punish the Nerazzurri. The good ball seems to fall to Pellegrino, who from inside the area however hits a poor volley with his left foot. When Inter accelerate, they always make themselves dangerous, a great play by Esposito frees Barella whose left foot hits the crossbar and the back of Suzuki, who then saves with a dive, anticipating Thuram on the goal line. The Nerazzurri try to raise the revs of the engine, but the slow movement of the ball on the attacking midfield crashes into the wall erected by the Gialloblu, in a first half that heads tiredly towards the interval. Just before the end of injury time, however, Inter struck, taking advantage of the first real distraction from the yellow and blue defence: a pass from Zielinski for Thuram, who with his diagonal right foot put the Nerazzurri ahead and blew up San Siro.
In the second half Chivu was forced to give up Esposito due to a blow to the back, inserting the former Bonny in his place. Inter continues to push in search of a double, without however finding any major ways to create dangers at Suzuki’s goal. 25′ from the end San Siro stands up for the return to the field of Lautaro Martinez, who returns to the pitch after his calf injury and puts minutes into his legs towards the Italian Cup final. On the other hand, Cuesta plays the Elphege card to try to increase his team’s offensive weight. However, Inter created the ball to close the match, with a cross from Dimarco completing a quick restart, on which, however, no one managed to find the right deflection a few steps from the goal. Shortly however, again on an assist from Dimarco, Dumfries gets there, but his right-footed shot ends up very high. Lautaro also tries, with a left-footed shot that is too weak and central to worry Suzuki. However, it is precisely an insertion by the captain that leads to the doubling: Bisseck launches the Argentine on the verge of offside, a low cross for Mkhitaryan who makes it 2-0 from close range and once again explodes the almost 75 thousand of Meazza. With 10 minutes to go, they are already celebrating: “we are the Italian champions”, the whole San Siro sings, and even the Nerazzurri bench dances. The twenty-first scudetto for Inter is now a reality.