Juventus 2 – Inter Milan 1: initial reaction and random observations

Inter Milan may have threw the first punch on Tuesday night, but it was Juventus who ended up getting up from the mat and doing enough to win this fight.

Thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half and some good old-fashioned Inter comedy at the back, Juventus were able to bounce back from scoring a goal and hang on after the half-time break to achieve a 2-1 victory in the first. stage of the semi-finals of Coppa Italia in San Siro. While it might have sounded like history could repeat itself 2 ¹⁄₂ weeks after Juventus were strangled by Inter at the same stadium, Andrea Pirlo’s side were able to do exactly what they failed to do in the January 17 loss to Inter: righting the ship.

Call it a microcosm for how the team have rebounded in the past two weeks since losing to Inter in Milan, but the fact that they had an immediate response in that game was the most important thing to do to make sure they are heading. return to Turin for the second leg with a few away goals in their pocket and a scoring advantage.

Just look at Juve’s immediate response to fall behind.

There was no wobbling, no kind of dip. Instead, Juventus pushed forward, securing a penalty kick every 15 minutes after falling behind. (Of course, there had to be a VAR to cancel the original call, but anyone who saw it realized it was just a rerun-based formality.) Thanks to Ronaldo’s pressing and Inter’s communication breakdown, Juve did not take the lead long after tying him up. (It ends with the post kiss – gorgeous.)

This is the kind of response you want to see whenever your team falls behind.

And Juventus delivered exactly that when they needed it most and be able to turn the score in their favor well before half-time.

Let’s face it, this game was wide open – especially as the second half wore on – and could easily have had a few more goals at the very least. But, as we’ve seen from Juventus in recent weeks, it’s not always because things go wrong and things may not be totally routine that disaster awaits them. They obviously weren’t in full control like the games of the past two weeks, but what could have been a lot worse turned out to be mere moments when our hearts fell in our stomachs.

This game was everywhere. The second half was particularly ubiquitous, and how it turned out to be over 45 minutes without a goal is completely beyond me with the number of chances that were created.

But luckily Juventus didn’t do what they did against Inter 2 ¹⁄₂ weeks ago. For this reason, Juve’s chances of qualifying again this season for the Coppa Italia final are even greater with a home game awaiting them in the second leg. Away goals help too.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Federico Bernardeschi’s cross on the move that got Juventus to get a penalty … yeah, that wasn’t very good. Fortunately, there is no sort of deal like in the NFL when the ball is not catchable. Juan Cuadrado could have had a Guinness World Record kind of vertical jump and he would not have come close to that crossing.
• I spoke in the most recent podcast about how Juve have improved to ward off danger on their opponents’ counterattacks. I am sorry. Juventus defended the counterattack very poorly which led to Inter’s first goal. It was pretty much the opposite of what you want to see done defensively. It wasn’t just a guy – it was a handful of things gone wrong.
• In addition, Gigi Buffon must do better with this shot. He’s better than that no matter how old he is these days.
• Buffon knows better than anyone that one of the biggest keys to a goalie is having a short memory. And after this flub he had in the first half, he comes out and makes an excellent save against Matteo Darmian at close range.
• Seriously, look at that Ronaldo penalty. You want something that is completely unstoppable for a goalie, here it is. It’s a shot that continues when it hits the back of the net.

Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP via Getty Images

• What I’m trying to show with this photo is Samir Handanovic – who had a pretty tough first half! – had absolutely no chance of stopping this even though he gave her the honorary dive to his right. Better luck next time, mate.
• I would also like them to have a photo available to us of behind Ronaldo as he was about to make contact with the ball on his second goal. His momentum takes him to the goal line and must have hit him just to make sure he doesn’t bend the ball too much. He did whatever it took to give Juve the advantage.
• You want to get your money’s worth on a yellow card, Matthijs de Ligt’s tackle on Nico Barella was about as good as it gets. This is what happens when a player running at full speed collides with a guy built like a wall.
• Here’s your reminder that Barella is only 23 and only getting better. Inter have a gem in their hands with this kid.
• Some of Rodrigo Bentancur’s turnovers in this game … come on, son.
• Merih Demiral was one of the culprits for Inter’s opening goal, but that goal-line clearance may turn out to be the difference between Juventus going to the Coppa Italia final or seeing their run end in the semi. -final. Simply a great instinctive game to get there because everything was going to hell right in front of him.
• The Juventus subs who left the bench in the second half: Danilo, Alvaro Morata, Arthur, Giorgio Chiellini and Federico Chiesa. Man, it’s really fun when almost everyone is healthy on this team. (We miss you, Paulo, come back soon.)
• Chiellini was basically going person to person after the final whistle giving hugs. When you get a big win over your main rivals, you pretty much earned it from the captain.
• Happy victory. Even with all the roller coaster moments of the second half, I’m going to take it.