Juve may not have been victorious, but without a doubt the 27th October’s Derby d'Italia will go down in history. Eight goals, coming from behind on several occasions, a rollercoaster of emotions and two teams pushed on by their desire to be the victor.
With Juve proving unstoppable at coming back despite going behind.
But let's start from the beginning, because it’s a very long story.
It took a quarter of an hour of figuring each other out before the game came to life: in the 15th minute, Inter took the lead, with Piotr Zielinski converting the penalty awarded for Danilo's challenge on Marcus Thuram, who had driven into the penalty area at pace.
THE MATCH CAME TO LIFE
Inter continued to push, but in the 20th minute Juventus were able to react immediately. A perfect pass from Juan Cabal released Weston McKennie, who in turn found Dusan Vlahovic and the Serbian’s first time shot levelled the scores. The Bianconeri weren’t finished there and capitalised to take the lead on the 26th minute, with Francisco Conceicao at the heart of Juve’s second, beating Henrik Mkhitaryan out wide before cutting into the penalty area and picking out Timothy Weah, who made no mistake in firing past Yann Sommer. It was 2-1 to the Bianconeri, and Inter seemed to be on the back foot.
Then Juve suffered a moment of madness: in the 35th minute the home team fought back through Mkhitaryan who latched onto Thuram’s pass to make it 2-2; just a minute had passed before Pierre Kalulu’s challenge on Thuram in the area led to the second penalty for Inter, which Zielinski coolly converted in the 38th minute.
JUVE DON'T GIVE UP, BUT...
The great thing about this match was that Juve never gave up after the setbacks they'd suffered, and they came close to equalising with a shot from Weah which, in the 47th minute, grazed the crossbar. The problem was that Inter got off to a strong start in the second half: in the 50th minute, Federico Dimarco fired an effort on goal, Michele Di Gregorio denied the initial shot and Denzel Dumfries couldn’t convert the rebound. A few minutes later, in the 53rd minute, Dumfries redeemed himself: after he got on the end of a corner that had deflected off of Danilo to give Inter a two goal advantage.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a lost cause at this point.
Not this team, though.
BIANCONERI FIGHTBACK
Inter continued to push and came dangerously close to extending their lead even further, but then came the Bianconeri's counter-attacks which threatened the Nerazzurri and perhaps put them on the back foot: in the 60th minute, a persistent move from Andrea Cambiaso and Conceicao released Vlahovic who looked for McKennie, but Dumfries intervened at the last second.
SUPER KENAN
Juve continued to press and, in the 71st minute, Kenan Yildiz, who had just come on, reminded everyone that it wasn't over, scoring after a fine counter-attack with a left-footed shot that went into the bottom corner. Now the Bianconeri believed, and in the 79th minute Yildiz came close to scoring a brace after a cross from Savona, narrowly missing the goal. His second arrived shortly after: Conceicao put a cross into the box which Kenan converted into the back of the net.
And so it ended, with a 4-4 draw that left everyone breathless, in the stands and among all the Bianconeri.
INTER 4-4 JUVENTUS
Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, Sunday 26 October, 2024 at 18:00 (CEST)
Goals: 15’ Zielinski (Pen) (I), 20’ Vlahovic (J), 26’ Weah (J), 35’ Mkhitaryan (I), 37 Zielinksi (Pen) (I), 53’ Dumfries (I), 71’ Yildiz (J), 82’ Yildiz (J).
Inter: Sommer, Bastoni, de Virj, Pavard (63’ Bisseck), Dumfries, Barella, Zielinski (63’ Frattesi), Mkhitaryan, Dimarco (77’ Darmian), Thuram (87’ Taremi), Martinez.
Unused Substitutes: Arnautovic, Correa, Di Gennaro , Martinez, Buchanan, Asllani, Palacios, Berenbruch.
Coach: Simone Inzaghi.
Juventus: Di Gregorio, Cambiaso, Kalulu, Danilo (77’ Gatti), Cabal, McKennie (83’ Thuram), Locatelli, Conceicao, Fagioli (61’ Savona), Weah (62’ Yildiz), Vlahovic (77’ Mbangula).
Unused Substitutes: Perin, Adzic, Pinsoglio, Rouhi.
Coach: Thiago Motta.
Referee: Marco Guida
Assistants: Filippo Meli, Stefano Alassio
Fourth Official: Andrea Colombo
Bookings: 52’ Danilo (J), 59’ Pavard (I), 75’ Dumfries (I)
Next Match:
Juventus-Parma
Serie A – Matchday Ten
Wednesday, 30 October, 2024 at 20:45 (CEST)
Allianz Stadium