It was a tale of strange selections and lacklustre performances from Inter today, as their race for the title took a massive blow, losing 2-0 to a Parma side who are currently struggling to keep themselves out of the relegation zone.
After the dismal defeat to Schalke in the Champions League mid-week, there were a couple of puzzling changes to the Inter line-up for this must-win game. Maicon and Thiago Motta were left out of the squad completely, with Wesley Sneijder dropping to the bench. Esteban Cambiasso and Houssine Kharja started, with the latter playing behind strikers Giampaolo Pazzini and Samuel Eto’o in a 4-3-1-2 shape.
For Parma, Raffaele Palladino and Fernando Marques were both unavailable for this fixture, but that didn’t stop the Gialloblùstarting with a formidable attack including Amauri, Sebastian Giovinco and Antonio Candreva in their 4-3-3/4-4-2 shape.
The tone was set in the first half for Inter, as they were unable to create any clear cut chances against a Parma side that had men back to crowd any danger out. The best Nerazzurri chance of the half came courtesy of Dejan Stankovic, who cracked a long range free-kick against the angle of the goal.
It was the ‘Atomic Ant’ Sebastian Giovinco who created and finished off a terrific counter-attacking goal which saw Parma open the scoring at the Ennio Tardini with ten minutes to go before half time. Giovinco chipped a ball over to Cristian Zaccardo who found an unmarked Francesco Modesto inside the area, who pulled it back unselfishly for him to finish in style. Not for the first time this season though, questions were raised about the Inter defence who could have done better to prevent the goal.
It was Giovinco who was the best player on the park before being substituted with just under ten minutes to go. His ability to run at opponents, his long passing ability and vision combined with a good shot made the 24-year-old who’s on loan from Juve a particular problem for the Inter defence.
In a bid to change the visitor’s fortunes in the second half, Leonardo took off Chivu and brought on Sneijder, meaning Zanetti dropped into right-back, Nagatomo shuffled across to left-back, Kharja dropped from trequartista into the midfield with Sneijder taking up this role.
It nearly paid off too, as the Dutchman flashed a shot just wide of the far post fifteen minutes into the second half. However this wasn’t a warning sign for Parma to fear an Inter resurgence, as they failed to create any other meaningful chances until the final minute of normal time, by which time Amauri had already ended the game and doubled i Crociati’s advantage.
With twenty minutes to go, Javier Zanetti gifted the ball to the Juventus loanee, who hit a beautiful curling shot onto the crossbar, with Julio Cesar rooted to the spot. Amauri didn’t have to wait much longer before scoring though, five minutes from time and with Inter pushing men forward, he managed to slot the ball into the back of the net.
It was substitute Diego Milito who had Inter’s final chance and could have made the five minutes of stoppage time rather tense when he broke the Parma defensive line, only to shoot straight at Antonio Mirante.
Much like the Schalke game, it was a story of Inter dominating possession but without a cutting edge to score past a stubborn Parma defence. The decision to omit Maicon for “technical reasons” seems like a rather stupid one, with the Nerazzurri very limited in attack down the right in the second half, with a rather poor Houssine Kharja and Javier Zanetti unable to cause any real issues.
The hosts impressed through being clinical on the break and solid in defence, and will be delighted to take all three points home tonight. They are now four points clear of the relegation zone, and now seem likely to be in Serie A for another year.
As for Inter, they are now nine points adrift of Milan and almost certainly out of contention for the Scudetto. It appears to now be a two-horse race, with Napoli facing Udinese tomorrow night in a game which now seems to be a must-win if Milan are to be stopped winning their first title in six years.
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