Match Summary
Here’s the lineup of both teams.
The Derby D’Italia, the derby of Italy was the extremely fascinating game with two very tactical managers, Thiago Motta and Simone Inzaghi. In the first half, Inzaghi’s men patiently kept the possession to seek the moment to find a spare player in between the lines to make the tempo faster and break the opposition last line. But Inter failed to convert any chances as Lautaro Martínez surprisingly lacked the quality of finishing in this game, then Juventus turned the game around in the second half. They became more aggressive and pressed higher than before, forcing Inter to give up the possession. Finally, the home side scored the first and only goal which determined the game.
0-15mins
Passive Juventus
In the early stage of the game, the home side was little bit passive, they decided to organise themselves and let Inter have the ball. Maybe it is different to say that they were passive because they sometimes stepped up to chase the ball after it was played back. But generally, Juventus initially set the compact block in the midfield, and they stepped up when they could.
Just before the 10th minutes of the game, Inter found Martínez in between the lines and quickly threatened Juventus’ back line.
As the illustration above shows, Inter moved the ball at the back and Bastoni found Martínez who was free thanks to Taremi’s run in behind to pin both Veiga and Gatti.
The basic system of Juventus was a 4-2-3-1, but McKennie often stepped up to apply pressure on someone in Inter’s backline, who was usually Pavard but could be Barella like in this sequence. Additionally, another feature was that Koopmeiners tended to follow Mkhitaryan tighter, which vacated the space in this example. The flexible unit of three centre backs and three midfielder worked quite effectively in the early stage of the game.
On the other hand, when Juventus had the ball, they could also establish the possession and progressed into the opposition half.
Juventus’ double pivot, Thuram and Koopmeiners were often free in the pentagon formed by Inter’s two strikers and three midfielders. So, they could keep the ball occasionally, but unlike Inter, they weren’t able to find the way to break the back line of Inter.
15-30mins
Patient Inter in possession
Following the first 15 minutes, Inter had still kept the ball, but Juventus organised themselves narrow and compact to close the middle well. Inter were very patient in possession and kept the ball at the back rather than gambling. This effort actually produced some big chances like in 18:30.
Juventus seemed to succeed to lock Inter in, but with the great link up play, Inter had beaten the pressing and released the ball from the pressure, leading the big chances like Taremi’s bicycle volley and Dumfries’ header just in front of the goal.
Like in the illustration above or the example shown previously, when Juventus’ centre backs couldn’t close both Taremi and Martínez, they were underloaded in the midfield and that what Inter looked for.
30-45mins
Faster tempo than before
The last 15 minutes of the first half was more open than previous 30 minutes. Juventus had more time in possession and Inter created the chances from counterattacks or something caused by Juventus’ mistake. And Inter often delivered crosses quicker after breaking the wide areas.
In 33:30, Inter had beaten the opposition pressing in the left side and delivered the ball to Barella in the opposite half space, who played it to Dumfiries crossing it first-time. Immediately after that, Inter won the ball in the opposition half and Dumfries again delivered the cut back but Martínez failed to convert it.
45-60mins
Aggressive Juventus
Even though Inter created a few chances in the first half, they couldn’t find the back of the net. After the passive first half, Juventus tried to turn it around by being aggressive from the start of the second half.
They pushed the lines up and applied more aggressive pressure on even the goalkeeper Sommer, then recovered the ball after forcing them to kick it away. Unlike the first half, Juventus’ more front-foot approach was successful from the start of the second half.
Moreover, they became able to play through Inter’s pressing more often.
In 46:45, Juventus quite comfortably played away from the pressure to progress the ball into the final third, leading the cross by Conceição and earning the corner kick.
The first substitution was made in 58th minutes, Motta replaced Savona by Cambiaso.
60-75mins
Aggressiveness payed off
There was a reward for becoming aggressive in 73rd minutes.
The substitute Cambiaso delivered the teasing cross, which was cleared by Augusto who replaced Bastoni, but from the second ball situation, Conceição found the back of the net.
Inter’s left side was changed in 61st minutes, as it was mentioned Bastoni was substituted by Augusto and Dimarco was replaced by Zalewski. But the goal was scored by the gap between them. Especially, Zalewski didn’t close the gap well because he was ready for the attack in the loose ball situation. Inter tried to be more attacking-mind, but in return, they couldn’t defend the box well.
75-90mins
Changes of players to equalise
Even after they scored, Juventus kept threatening Sommer. In 75:30, after having applied high pressure on Sommer on the ball and forced him to kick the ball way, they recovered the ball in the midfield. Then, they switched the ball to play away from the opposition pressure, leading a shot from Koopmeiners which was cleared by Dumfries on the line.
Inter tried to equaliise with some changes up front, but failed to do so.
