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Good morning! Lautaro Martinez is on the crossbar. A new star on the Inter Milan jersey
Future :
👑 Inter claim Serie A crown on AC Milan’s hell of a night
🔓 Access all areas of the Man Utd academy, Disney to follow?
🖊️ Emery signs new Villa deal, Amorim in talks with West Ham
💭 Players dreaming of winning the title… before winning it
Heaven for Inter, hell for Milan
Those stars you see on a team’s jersey, just above the crest? Italian football was the first to adopt them, in 1958, when Juventus won their 10th national title.
Ten ‘scudetti’ (Serie A titles) earned a club a star and, 36-time champions, Juve were the only team in Italy to have two or more on their chest. Until last night.
Inter Milan joined them in this exclusive category after winning Serie A for the 20th time, and in the best way possible: against AC Milan at San Siro, their rivals’ worst nightmare come true.
Inter had been champions in waiting for weeks, and the stars were aligning for their upcoming moment in the final Milan derby of the season.
Milan captain Davide Calabria promised that would not happen: neither at San Siro, nor that night. But it is – and Calabria took it well. His fate was a red card in stoppage time for elbowing an opponent in the face.
Keep (tattoo) receipts
Two years ago, Milan won their 19th scudetto in their final match, narrowly beating Inter for first place. Milan coach Stefano Pioli did what any normal person would do: he went to town and got the trophy tattooed on his wrist.
Inter has not forgotten him. They kept the receipts. And ever since, they’ve been taking Milan to the cleaners. Milan lost the derby for the sixth time in a row last night. They went 5-1 while hiding from Inter in September.
Technically Inter were away from home last night, a quirk of sharing a stadium, so San Siro was mostly filled with Milan fans.
You will be surprised to learn that tensions have become high. Milan’s Theo Hernandez and Inter’s Denzel Dumfries were sent off for a scuffle (below), shortly before Calabria saw red from a corner in the 97th minute. The ridiculous thing? It cost Milan their last chance to equalize. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan went for the corner in desperation. Not their night.
More drama in the Milan derby with the absence of Theo Hernandez and Denzel Dumfries 🟥
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/3oNZszF8eG
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 22, 2024
(Non-UK readers can view the incident here)
Inzaghi shines brightly
The story of Inter’s title victory, a brilliant read by James Horncastle, shows that their boss, Simone Inzaghi, navigated stormy seas to get there.
It’s his first scudetto as a coach, and it changes his reputation as a cup specialist. Inter took Manchester City narrowly to the Champions League final last season – and some believe in Italy that the strength of Inter’s performance in Istanbul prepared them mentally for a title bid.
They also have a secret weapon up their sleeve: CEO Giuseppe Marotta who, having rebuilt Inter after joining Juve in 2018, has been part of a title-winning club in nine of the last 13 Italian seasons. No wonder they joke that Serie A is the Marotta League.
It’s rare to get the access Andy Mitten got to Manchester United’s academy.
It wasn’t that long ago that he couldn’t match the crème de la crème of the Premier League (i.e. Manchester City). Andy was one of those who criticized him, which is why he was invited to go see the recent changes.
One thing he learned? Don’t ask for pudding after lunch…
NEW: Inside the Man Utd Academy. Part Two: Creating Players and People
Amorim meets West Ham
The Premier League’s managerial merry-go-round is about to burst into flames. Jurgen Klopp leaves Liverpool but there are also questions about others: Erik ten Hag, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi. Not to mention West Ham United’s David Moyes.
West Ham are clearly weighing up options – because, as The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed, they met with Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim in London yesterday.
Amorim led Sporting to a first Portuguese title in 19 years, so his stock is high. Rumors that he had already reached a verbal agreement with Liverpool were premature.
Title Discussion: How do players handle pressure?
April is cliché season in title races. One game at a time, control the controllables, focus on yourself – undoubtedly Arsenal’s mindset when they take on Chelsea in the Premier League this evening.
But surely that’s easier said than done? Memories of Premier League title winners Alan Shearer and Robert Huth suggest this is the case:
🗣️ “Literally every time I got in the car after practice I imagined lifting the trophy. »
🗣️ “They will tell us that they are not interested in what the other teams are doing. Let me tell you one thing: these are bulls***. »
The lesson here: they are human like the rest of us.
📺 Arsenal v Chelsea, 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. UK; American network, TNT Sports 1
📲LIVE Blog
Around Athletic FC
🌳 Read more about Nottingham Forest’s VAR talk. They want full audio disclosure. And said the VAR – Stuart Attwell – has been selected for Euro 2024.
🇪🇸 Not to be outdone, Barcelona have threatened to request a replay with Real Madrid following a controversial decision in Sunday’s Clasico.
You can buy tickets for your favorite global football matches here.
(Top photo: Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter via Getty Images)