Antonio Conte Is the Real Winner as Inter and Juventus Play out Derby D’Italia Thriller

“Neutral fans had a great time, but I didn’t find it as enjoyable,” was Simone Inzaghi’s succinct verdict on a thrilling Derby d’Italia.

Neutrals must indeed have had a great time watching Inter Milan and Juventus score four times each in a frantic, spectacular and ultimately gloriously bonkers fixture on Sunday evening.

And, one suspects, nobody across the whole of Serie A would have enjoyed the 4-4 draw at the San Siro as much as the man who managed both clubs.

The result leaves Antonio Conte’s Napoli four points clear of Inter and five ahead of Juventus after nine matches, with the resurgent pair of Atalanta and Fiorentina a point further behind.

Napoli were far from spectacular in their 1-0 win against Lecce on Saturday afternoon, but got over the line courtesy of a tap-in from Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

The Napoli captain had a goal ruled out by VAR, but the Azzurri lived dangerously against a team that had conceded six times the previous week.

But as Conte would undoubtedly point out, grinding out results is what great teams do. His Napoli side are by no means great, at least not yet. 

But they look a completely different team from the one that imploded 3-0 in Verona on the opening day of the season, a performance Conte described as shameful.

Napoli have won seven of the following eight games and the defeat in Verona remains hitherto their only loss of the season.

The Partenopei have conceded just twice over the past eight matches and have Serie A’s best defensive record alongside Juventus.

More significantly, they have kept a clean sheet in six of their nine Serie A matches so far, after keeping seven in the whole of last season.

Conte is also only the third Napoli manager after Albertino Bigon in the 1989-90 season and Luciano Spalletti in the 2021-22 campaign to win his first five home matches in his debut season in Naples.

While it would be premature to anoint Napoli as the favourites to win the title, they are arguably ahead of schedule under Conte.

The Azzurri have made the most of a relatively benign schedule so far, but their mettle will be tested over the next three fixtures.

Napoli travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan on Tuesday, welcome high-flying Atalanta at home on Sunday afternoon and return to Milan to take on Inter before the international break.

If they are to close the gap before their showdown on November 10, the Nerazzurri can’t afford to be as alarmingly profligate as they were on Sunday evening.

On the back of five consecutive wins in all competitions, Inter scored three times in 35 minutes against a team that had conceded just once in eight Serie A matches.

Piotr Zielinski converted two penalties to twice give Inter the lead either side of Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s equaliser.

Denzel Dumfries made it 4-2 early in the second half, when Inter put Juventus to the sword but failed to translate their domination into goals.

Inter’s own imprecision in front of goal and a string of fine saves from Michele Di Gregorio meant Juventus avoided conceding five at the San Siro in the Derby D’Italia for the first time since they were shellacked 6-0 in 1954.

“We deserved to score seven or eight against a team that had only allowed one in eight games,” Inzaghi said.

Not clinical enough in the final third, Inter were worryingly shaky at the back, where Kenan Yildiz tormented Dumfries.

Inter have already conceded 13 times in nine Serie A matches, the second-worst defensive record of any team in the top-eight.

To put the figure into context, the Beneamata conceded just 22 goals in 38 matches last season.

“You can’t concede four goals from four [Juve actually had five] shots on target,” Inzaghi said.

“That’ll be where we’ll focus our analysis starting tomorrow morning.”

Speaking on Sky Italia after the final whistle, Paolo Di Canio echoed Inzaghi’s thoughts.

“Tactically, Motta got everything spot on,” he said.

“Inter should have killed the game at 4-2, but Juve’s fightback was admirable.

“A draw is a bitter pill for Inter to swallow, while Juve will see it as a point gained. If Inter want to defend their title, they need to be more ruthless.”

Di Canio rightly praised Juventus’ character but Motta, plainly, did not get everything spot on from a tactical standpoint. 

Far from it.

Three days after being played off the park by Stuttgart, Juventus were second best for long spells at the San Siro and Inter should have put the game to bed.

But they did not and the Bianconeri remain the only unbeaten side in Serie A.

“We’ve never been under so much pressure, and we made far too many mistakes,” Motta told Sky Italia.

“However, we also created our own opportunities.”

Mistakes and opportunities made for a thrilling spectacle for the neutrals. Nobody would have enjoyed it more than Conte.