Adrien Rabiot and Nicolo Fagioli fired Juventus to a huge 2-0 victory at home to Inter on Sunday night.
With The Old Lady behind Inter in the Serie A standings heading into the game and hampered by their own inconsistency, three points was a must and crucially catapulted them above the hosts and up to fifth.
A timid start to such a historic contest opened up after 20 minutes or so, with Inter coming close through Lautaro Martinez and Juve through an unlikely Gleison Bremer at the back post. It was Juve who continued to grow and fashion chances, but they couldn’t find a way ahead before half-time.
Juve were happy to sit back and counter after the break, which is ultimately how they pulled ahead and continued to threaten. Inter didn’t do enough with the ball throughout the bulk of the second half, rendering a late push for a goal useless.
It felt like the occasion of the Derby d’Italia had consumed both sides from the first whistle, with a distinct lack of quality in front of goal and among passing rather evident. Proceedings perked up, though, and boiled to an end-to-end 45 minutes where Inter spurned the most obvious chances to score.
Lautaro Martinez had fired wide after just five minutes, and after surviving a flurry from Juventus that saw them almost pull ahead through Bremer after 20 minutes, Inter finished the half strong. Nicolo Barella might have been trying to score himself from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s pass after 42 minutes, but his effort fell into the path of an unmarked Denzel Dumfries, who spurned a shot from point-blank to ensure the half ended goalless.
It took the hosts just seven minutes to draw ahead after the break, though, just as Inter were trying to ramp up the pressure. Filip Kostic peeled away down the left flank and crossed low for Rabiot to open up his foot and slot home for 1-0.
Suddenly, the game was falling out of Inter’s grasp and they were two down after an hour when Danilo converted incredibly from Kostic’s corner. Their blushes were spared, though, as VAR ruled out the goal for handball.
Andre Onana was called into action to spectacularly tip an effort from Kostic onto the post in the closing stages. A save like that should’ve spurred Simone Inzaghi’s side on to find the all-important equaliser, but they instead found themselves 2-0 down and resigned to defeat when Fagioli fired in on his first Serie A start.
GK: Wojciech Szczesny – 8/10 – Excellent save to deny Martinez with his feet; kept his side ahead following a lapse in…
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