Four wins out of four games and the standings are now smiling again at the Italians. The tale of Nico Paz that overwhelms United, the tremors of San Siro on a high-risk night.
Contrary to comrades, Italy remains a country capable of competing in the Champions League too. Having put aside the depression for the historic en plein in reverse, the four defeats out of four turned into four victories with Inter and Como completing the work started by Rome and Naples. The skeptic will say that some of the opponents were of such a low level that they didn’t count, but in the end what remains is the redemption of Serie A and a series of results that allow us to look to the future with a pinch of serenity.
The fairy tale is that of Como who gave Manchester United (4-1) the same treatment with which Leipzig was honored in their historic debut in the Champions League. Carrick’s dismissal will arrive today because the English cannot understand how a provincial reality could have spanked the (formerly) Red Devils, but it is their problem and not Fabregas’ who took advantage of the mistakes of Rotterdam by presenting the best Como possible.
It was Nico Paz’s night, not only for the brace that knocked out United. It cannot be ruled out that in Madrid they took notes because these are the situations that make players change their careers and, it must be remembered, Nico continues to be controlled by the merengues who can take him back by paying 80 million euros to Como. Many, there is no doubt, but the Argentine has become a total footballer of superior quality and Serie A on the lake will soon be too close to him.
Seeing Manchester United panting for the entire match after the organized fury of the Como team is priceless. It is one of the worst versions of the glorious team that belonged to Ferguson, but this observation does not take anything away from the extraordinary nature of the undertaking of a reality that two years ago in these times faced the football of the greats with ambitions, dreams but also without such a solid base as to make one imagine the uphill journey made with such rapidity.
Inter, on the other hand, lived an evening on the razor’s edge, ensnared by Shakhtar Donetsk’s dribbling, betrayed by Bastoni who naively allowed himself to be chased away in the heart of the second half and saved first by two inventions from Mkhitaryan and Carlos Augusto (to be renewed quickly) and then by the walls of the revived Martinez. Hence the 1-0 success. Chivu explained that the defeats against Real Madrid and Bruges weighed heavily on his team’s minds and, perhaps, the defeat against the Belgians left a deep mark on their certainties.
The dribble on the Champions League dream or goal risks becoming tiresome. Inter risked definitively compromising the race for the second phase of the cup and will do well to concentrate on this, also because in Rotterdam a Feyenoord awaits them who were able to put Fabregas’ Como under and who must be beaten at all costs. As? Not replicating the performance against the Ukrainians at the end of which the only two positive pieces of news were the three points and the ability to resist at the worst moment. For any other discussion, however, much more is needed.
