Juve v Inter: Honors Even

By: Martha | November 4th, 2007

Whoa. A draw was probably a fair result for this one, a match that saw each team spend some time on top but which, overall, was nervy and tense and extremely stressful. Juve were all over Inter at the start, and the Nerazzurri spent a good portion of the first half heading the ball out of the box or, if you’re Crisitian Chivu, just kicking it really, really far. Julio Cesar wasn’t called upon to do much in goal, but that was no reflection of the activity of Inter’s backs, who were wildly busy for much of the first 45 minutes.

When Inter did get the ball down and managed to possess it, the moves inevitably ended with someone going offside. The final count (include one that ruled out a goal by Esteban Cambiasso) was in the low teens somewhere, but I think whoever was keeping track missed about 15 offenses, because it was almost comical how often the flag went up. Lucky for Inter, though, Cordoba and Samuel were holding it down in the back, which gave the rest of the team time to sort themselves out and try to settle down. I’m not sure that really happened in any significant way until the second half, but the Milanese managed to stay onside once and Julio Cruz put the chance away, settling a long pass from Cesar on his chest and slotting it smoothly past Gigi Buffon just before the halftime; the goal was definitely against the proverbial play, but Inter went into the break up 1-0.

Inter seemed to calm down once they had the lead, and the entire team played with a lot more poise in the second half. Javier Zanetti, in particular, was immense in the midfield, and though Juve most likely had the edge in possession, the Nerazzurri defended comfortably, and were always threatening on the counter, particularly when David Suazo and his terrifying speed came on. Both the Honduran and Zaltan (who let everyone on the pitch inside his head and failed utterly to make an impact) squandered great chances to double the lead, though, and were made to pay for their wastefulness about 10 minutes from time when substitutes Vincenzo Iaquinta and Mauro Camoranesi combined (albeit with a little help from Samuel’s heel) to draw Juve level.

The pace of the match slowed a lot in the last 10 minutes and things got a little nasty mostly, it appeared, because Giorgio Chiellini couldn’t get Zlatan to respond to his taunts and grabs (Chiellini played him great the whole match, and Zlatan responded to the heightened emotion of the whole thing by shutting down completely and becoming preternaturally calm — it’s no wonder his former teammate was confused). There were a lot of arguments in the last few minutes, as well as particularly bad-looking foul by Chiellini on Zlatan, but despite the eagerness of Nico Burdisso (he of the busted nose against Valencia) to start something, the referee kept the peace and no one did anything spectacularly stupid, either before or after the whistle.

Also: Pavel Nedved picked up a card in the second half and will be suspended (again) for Juve’s next match, while Inter saw both birthday boy (he’s 104) Luis Figo and Maicon leave the match which injuries, which is awful news heading into another round of Champions League play.