Juventus vs Inter Milan: 3 takeaways | Serie A 2018-19
Juventus beat Inter 1-0 in a Serie A match on Friday to move to 43 points from 15 matches. They have extended their lead over 2nd placed Napoli to 11 points, and are almost certain to retain the league title.
Inter meanwhile stay on 29 points in spite of being the better team in the first half of the match. Juve came back strongly in the second half, and Mario Mandzukic scored the winner in the 66th minute with a header.
Both teams had 50 percent ball possession in the match, and Juve had 5 shots on goal compared to Inter’s 1. Inter's Roberto Gagliardini hit the woodwork in the first half, and they were also unlucky to miss out on a great opportunity to score.
The Juve defence was tormented in the first half, and were lucky not to concede goals. Inter should be cursing themselves for letting Juve off the hook, and missed out on an opportunity to turn the tables in Serie A.
Luciano Spalletti, the Inter coach, was a bit theatrical in his pre and post-match talks, but could not salvage a point for his side.
We now look at 3 talking points from the match.
#1 Inter troubling Juve via the right flank
For the majority of the first half, Inter troubled Juve through the right flank. Matteo Politano and Sime Vrsaljko combined well to trouble the Juve left-back Joao Cancelo, who remains vulnerable defensively.
He makes good overlapping runs, and the Juve goal came from a cross delivered by him, but he will have to work on his defensive side. Vrsaljko cut into the centre of the pitch most of the time, and allowed Politano make those foraying runs through the right wing.
Moreover, the Inter midfielders started playing long diagonal balls to the right flank from their own half, and caught the Juve defence off guard. Ivan Perisic missed another opportunity to score as he mis-kicked the ball after a cross was delivered at him.
The attacks were less through the left wing as Matteo Di Sciglio stayed in his own half most of the time. Still, Joao Mario and Perisic combined at times and tried to to trouble Di Sciglio with quick one-twos. The Juve defence was stretched wide by the Inter wingers & full-backs, and looked vulnerable.