Inter reasserted themselves as Serie A favourites for 2023-24 with an emphatic 3-0 win over Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, beating Juventus to regain top spot.
Napoli, the incumbent Serie A champions, suffered yet another home defeat – their fourth of the campaign – and find themselves 11 points off the pace in fifth position. It’s the Partenopei’s worst home record (at this stage of the season) since 1997, back when Corrado Ferlaino ruled, Max Allegri played and Napoli went through four coaches.
With this result, Inter reaffirmed themselves as Italian favourites and many praised club principal Beppe Marotta for signing Marcus Thuram, the French striker who joined Bayern Mönchengladbach as a free agent. Thuram, who scored 34 goals in the German Bundesliga between 2019 and 2023, outnumbered Lautaro Martinez at Napoli and sealed the win with his 85th-minute arrival, a goal that put Gli Azzurri on the sword, both metaphorically and metaphysically.
The applause also extends to Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer. The 34-year-old has nine blank sheets after making 14 Serie A appearances, already bettering André Onana’s record from last season. The $7. 36 million (€6. 8 million) that signed Thuram’s teammate at Mönchengladbach until January 2023, when Bayern Munich bought him as a temporary cover for the then injured Manuel NeuerArray. Impressively, Inter managed to update Romelu Lukaku and André Onana with more effective players while making big gains, similar to what Napoli made in 2022-23 with the signings of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim Min-Jae.
Trading the beloved duo of Lukaku and Onana (whose collective salary was $15. 97 million) for Thuram and Sommer ($11. 8 million) resulted in an additional savings of $4. 17 million. Overall, Marotta’s good financial decisions allowed the club to earn more. More than $58 million just for those two team adjustments, taking into account the fees paid through the Red Devils for Onana. Furthermore, since then, Thuram’s have risen to more than 24 million dollars (22. 5 million euros).
Positive change often materializes once clubs are ready to concede that some dressing room dynamics are a detriment. A surplus of big egos can be deafening, and while Lukaku’s departure was momentarily mourned by Inter and their fans, the addition of Thuram has shown that strikers don’t need an inflated sense of importance to transcend into world-class footballers. According to Opta, Thuram is the only Serie A player, and one of only eight players in Europe’s top-five leagues (Big-5), to score at least five goals and assist at least five goals.
Over the summer, many Italian media outlets were sceptical about the ability of Thuram, son of former Parma and Juventus defender Lilian, to adapt to life at one of Italy’s wonderful classic teams. While Lautaro Martinez has taken over most of the team’s goalscoring responsibilities, Thuram’s influence hasn’t wavered since his first goal in September. Since then, the 26-year-old has scored against three of Serie A’s “big six”: Milan, Roma and now Napoli.
Inter fans had been critical following the $54 million (€50 million) sale of Onana to Manchester United, but Marotta turned the complaint into praise after Sommer’s series of ideal performances, which were demonstrated in Maradona, tilting Eljif Elmas’ attack in the 3rd. minute and then reacted temporarily to deny Kvaratskhelia in the 58th minute with a score of 0-1.
On the other side of town, AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan has conceded thirteen goals in 11 Serie A games. Until Sommer’s arrival, the 28-year-old looked like the most productive goalkeeper in the most sensible league, with just four blank sheets. In his 2023-24 call-up, the Rossoneri goalkeeper is dethroned. Meanwhile, Sommer’s ninth blank sheet was recognised with a well-deserved score of 7. 5 points out of 10 by Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport (quite high by their standards), while Inter enthusiasts overwhelmingly voted Sommer their man of the match.
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri refused to attend the post-adjustment press conference after his side’s loss to Inter, furious that Victor Osimhen was not awarded a penalty in the second half by referee Davide Massa. President Aurelio De Laurentiis went so far as to report the official adjustment to the appropriate authorities, saying Napoli had been affected by a variety of poor refereeing, adding that it failed to prevent play when midfielder Stanislav Lobotka was allegedly fouled by Hakan. If convicted, Massa, who has been rated 5/10 through posts of his performance, risks being demoted or suspended.
SSC Napoli players protest with referee Davide Massa for the Serie A TIM match between SSCarray.
Surprised after another tough defeat at home, Mazzarri and De Laurentiis will see it as an opportunity to justify Napoli’s fifth position in the Serie A standings. And since the Scudetto holders have only won seven titles in seven matches down there, the Apologies will have to be translated into movements in the future. With the away game against Juventus just a few days away, the Partenopei cannot waste energy on things that deserve to have been. And with Juve lurking in second position, Inter could take double the advantage from Sunday night’s drama if Napoli can turn their anger into goals in Turin.
It is Inter’s second Serie A win at Napoli this century. Historically, Inter have been the team Napoli have won the most home games against in Serie A, with the Nerazzurri taking charge of just 19 of the 78 matches. The 3-0 win was the first time since 1977 (with Beppe Chiapella) that Beneamata had won with 3 goals. In addition, on a continental scale echoes of the maximum sense of the Qualification were felt, with Inter becoming the team that won the most games (6) and conceded the fewest goals (2) away from home in the European Big-5.
Inter manager Simone Inzaghi will no doubt be proud of this team and confident that their multitude of educational strategies can be adapted to the UEFA Champions League (UCL) finals in February.
In today’s inflated market, $7. 36 million is spare currency for the world’s biggest clubs. Still, Sommer and Thuram have shown they have what it takes to make an invaluable contribution to what would be their first Champions League final if Inter manage to reach Wembley. .
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – JUNE 10: Simone Inzaghi, head coach of FC Internazionale, looks dejected with Array. [ ] their finalist’s medal after the team’s defeat in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League final match between FC Internazionale and Manchester City FC at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium on 10 June 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo via Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA Getty Images)