Juventus vs. Internazionale: Winners and Losers from Coppa Italia
Fate has gifted Italian football with two extra editions of the Derby d’Italia this season, and the first of those extra sessions between Internazionale and Juventus came on Wednesday in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.
The two teams had battled to a goalless draw in the first league game between the two in October, but this was a different Juve team than the one the Nerazzurri faced at the San Siro.
Finally clicking on all cylinders, Juve have been a machine, winning 11 consecutive games in the league and 15 of 17 in all competitions since Halloween.
After a start that leaned toward Juve, the floodgates came open on the 36th minute when Alvaro Morata slammed home a penalty. Another one from the Spaniard in the second half swung the momentum decidedly in Juve’s favor, and Inter’s hopes were put to bed when Jeison Murillo was sent off with 20 minutes to go.
A late stunner from Paulo Dybala, who somehow managed to nutmeg Samir Handanovic from 18 yards away, completed Inter’s humiliation and put the tie firmly in Juve’s hands as they look for a second consecutive trip to the final.
Who were the winners and losers in Wednesday’s derby? Let’s take a closer look at the match and find out.
Winner: Alvaro Morata
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It's been a rough four months for Morata. After starting the year scoring big goals in the Champions League at Manchester City and against Sevilla and adding his first league goal of the year against Bologna, the young Spaniard ran cold. Going into the game he hadn't scored since that goal against Bologna on October 4.
Part of the problem was the fact that he was pushed wide to the left in a 4-3-3 for much of October. Playing in an unnatural position had a major effect on his form, and it didn't help when Mario Mandzukic recovered his form and went on a tear, putting Morata on the bench for the man in form.
Morata has not been all that far off the mark the last few weeks. He's been in the right positions, but his final touch has been just off. That's led to a sight familiar to anyone who watched in the first half of last year when he was battling Fernando Llorente for playing time.
Morata has been pressing badly. His touches have been too heavy, and he's been too intent to put his head down and charge at goal himself than to look up and find better options. That was how he looked for the first half-hour or so on Wednesday.
Then he regained his mojo in spectacular fashion.
It started in the 36th minute when Murillo bundled over Juan Cuadrado in the box. Morata was ordered up to the spot, and he took the penalty with aplomb, firing high into the side of the net. Penalty specialist Handanovic had guessed the right way but could do absolutely nothing.
Morata immediately looked brighter, and just after the hour he made it two after Felipe Melo made a hash of a Patrice Evra clearance, sending the ball right to him. Morata turned and fired high into the far corner.
He almost polished off his hat-trick in the 77th when a cross from Paul Pogba landed right at his feet, but he attacked the ball too hard and ended up powering over from six yards out.
Regardless of that miss, this game was absolutely massive for Morata. Allegri would do well to play him in Sunday's matchup against Chievo in order to capitalize on this burst and turn it into a real run of form.
Loser: Jeison Murillo
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Murillo had about as bad a game as a defender can have on Wednesday. He conceded the penalty that led to the game's first goal in the 35th minute, firmly planting his shoulder into Cuadrado right in front of referee Paolo Tagliavento.
After the arbiter had missed a clear handball in the box by Gary Medel earlier in the half, doing anything close to a foul in the box was likely to produce a whistle, although the foul would have been called any day.
Murillo nearly redeemed himself when he fired in a strong header off a free-kick that would have made the game 2-1 if not for a fine save. But four minutes later, he made a bad mistake worse by hacking Cuadrado down again, earning a second yellow and, for all intents and purposes, ending the match.
Murillo will be suspended for the second leg and may find himself in Roberto Mancini's doghouse as the main culprit in a high-profile defeat.
Winner: Juan Cuadrado
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Cuadrado has been the subject of some criticism lately.
B/R’s own Adam Digby pointed out his need to do more earlier this week after failing to affect what was a 0-0 game when he was inserted as a sub against Roma on Sunday. This writer has been critical in the past of his tendency for flash over substance.
Today, there was substance. Cuadrado flitted around the right wing almost at will, totally canceling out Yuto Nagatomo on Inter’s left. He latched onto a ball from Morata to earn the penalty in the first half, and his hard drive down the center were the catalyst for both Morata’s second and for Murillo’s red.
It’s unlikely that Cuadrado will replace Stephan Lichtsteiner full time in the 3-5-2—the Swiss is simply too important to the team to bench. But as a late-game change of pace or in a different role if Allegri changes formations in the future.
After a period of some struggle, Cuadrado came through when it counted on Wednesday. Now he must keep it up.
Loser: Felipe Melo
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Wednesday wasn’t the first time Melo had returned to the Juventus Stadium.
After two disappointing years in Turin, the midfielder had gone to Galatasaray, first on loan and then permanently, and had played in the Champions League group stage when Juve faced the Turkish giants in 2013-14.
This game, though, didn’t produce many big memories. Melo was ineffective on both ends. He couldn’t do anything creatively, committed a foul on a free-kick that wasted a good chance to equalize and, worst of all, simply tapped Evra’s cross back to Morata for him to tuck away for his second goal.
Whether or not Mancini was planning it regardless, it didn’t look too good that the big Brazilian was hauled off seconds after that miscue, giving way to Marcelo Brozovic.
It certainly wasn’t a day to remember.
Winner: Neto
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As Gianluigi Buffon’s deputy, Norberto Neto has been relegated to the Coppa and the odd league game when Buffon desires a rest. That isn’t often.
He didn’t have much to do on Wednesday, but he did come up big when it counted, not only stopping Murillo’s bullet header minutes after Morata made it 2-0 but catching it—diving, no less—to deprive any Inter players of a rebound opportunity.
It was a fantastic save in an important moment, denying Inter what could have been a crucial away goal and at that point in the game, a goal that could have completely switched the game’s momentum.
Loser: Roberto Mancini
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Roberto Mancini might be in serious trouble.
He remade Inter’s roster this year, stacking it with big, strong players but precious few with creativity.
That’s created a huge imbalance on the field. A midfield full of destroyers like Melo, Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia has put almost the entire burden of creativity on Inter’s forwards. And so far, they haven’t shown they can handle it.
Inter have only scored 26 times in the league this season. By contrast, Roma—six points behind them in fifth—have scored 37, and Fiorentina—ahead of them on tiebreakers for third—have scored 39. Six teams behind them in the table have scored more, including Chievo in 10th and Torino in 11th.
It takes a lot to penetrate Juve’s defense as it is. With a team like this, it’s practically impossible without the Bianconeri making a mistake.
Mancini needs to come up with a way to inject some creativity or things could get bad. He cannot keep counting on 1-0 wins to get Inter where they want to go.
