The most influential Inter Milan meets Atletico Madrid in the knockout round of 16 of the 2023/24 Champions League. It is not the first class in terms of popularity, but the strength is not in doubt. This group of the last 16 of the Champions League this season is arguably the heaviest power play, and apart from the doorway there is a buzz to be had.
Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone has played for three teams in the Serie A: Pisa, Inter Milan and Lazio, and when the Argentine midfielder scored for Lazio in the final round of the 2001/02 season (May 5), he didn't celebrate at all, but only let out a long sigh, leaving behind the famous scene of "Alien" Ronaldo in tears. Diego Simeone's son, Giovanni Simeone, won the Serie A title with Napoli, and the family is looking forward to a father-son showdown. In addition to returning to the old home tour, Diego Simeone and Inter boss Simone Inzaghi had been teammates in Lazio for four years, a university classmate for many years have not seen the concept of becoming a professor.
Catch-up over, back to the game. The Blue and Blacks took a 1-0 lead at home in the first round and 2-0 on aggregate in the second. However, in their latest predicament, the Bedlamites, fighting to secure fourth place, simply dragged their recent winning streak into an extended match, eventually catching the final bus to the top eight at 2(3)-(2)1.
Does Inter deserve the honor of defeat? Definitely not, because one more goal from the blue and black snakes in both rounds would have killed the game.
Does Inter count as a strategic mistake? This is a YES AND NO question for reasons that will be broken down below.
Does the fact that Inter stopped in the last 16 of the Champions League this season mean that they were lucky to reach the final last season? Obviously not, after all, there are cases of better luck but choking to death.
With 2 rounds against Real Sociedad in Group D and 2 rounds against Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16 this season, Inter Milan's players exposed their lack of ability to finish at key moments in the Champions League's truly high-intensity conversations. Not to mention the regular time and extended bubble gun set pieces, the final PK battle Lautaro Martinez was outstanding in the 5th round. Considering the second scheduling of PK bats, the strongest team has moved forward (because everyone doesn't know who is kicking in the fifth round) and it's a complete departure from the strongest finishes of the past. His game was not only a testament to the starter, but also to the hopelessness of the incompetence in the Blue and Black lineup.Down 2-3 on the PK, and with Lautaro Martinez having already conceded two 12-yard penalties on the season, even though the fans had the worst possible thoughts, he capped his team's Champions League campaign with a textbook negative textbook grade, in order to beat the dead corner resulting in the formation of a lofted field goal.
It seems that overnight Inter Milan has reverted back to the low goal conversion rate of the Antione Conte era, where the Blue and Black Snakes had a dismal goal-to-target ratio, but Simone Inzaghi's coaching has seen the team improve significantly on the offensive end, and play with a more fluid and layered game. Unfortunately, however, the problem with the goal kicking began to show in the group stage. In contrast to the Yiwu Liga, where the team is focusing on attacking chances, the team rotated its lineup against other league giants, which resulted in only one loss this season, but the whole team still had to suppress their opponents on the field in order to win the game.
It's hard to evaluate whether such a choice is good or not, but at least the Champions League top 16 paid the price. In the first round, Inter Milan completely beat Madrid at home, but only won 1-0 games and couldn't get the ball most of the time, which left the second round of cooperation in Spain in suspense (Inter Milan's record in the Champions League knockout rounds in Spain is extremely tragic, even if it is a one-stop-shop on the road this season). In the second round, Atletico fought back after conceding another goal. On the contrary, Inter Milan didn't have much of a chip on their shoulder, so much so that they couldn't afford to have a consistently stable backline, which is considered one of the shortcomings exposed in the Champions League knockout rounds this season.
Diego Simeone saw Stefan de Vrij's point and exploited it desperately, forcing the defense to retreat, and the two strikers, Álvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann, attracted a lot of defenders to pull Inter's defense, and finally opened the door to Stefan de Vrij's point.Why did Francesco not start? Acerbi didn't start? He didn't warm up with the brigade before the game, most likely due to ill health caused by constant fighting on the domestic front.
Since one's own strength is not enough to burn the candle at both ends, then the choice of strategy is very important. Consequentialism is, of course, failure, but as in the beginning, it's a question of YES AND NO. Inter's CEO, Giuseppe Marotta, announced early in the season that the league title was more important, and that incentive bonuses would be focused on the "second star". Since then, little Inzaghi has followed this principle and strategy with little flexibility.
Of course, Inzaghi Jr. is justified in wanting to do this. He earned a contract extension and the third-highest coach's salary in the Eredivisie with his Eredivisie Insurance 4 and Champions League finalist last season, and as a Eredivisie Insurance 4 and Champions League finalist, "Cup Expert" Inzaghi Jr. is one Eredivisie title away from being a famous Eredivisie manager, so he's happy to make this Eredivisie-minus-Champions League choice.
