The Argentine seals the victory and responds to Milan’s win yesterday. With Roma and Napoli facing off tonight at the Olimpico, the Nerazzurri are now one point behind the leaders
You could say it was Pio’s left foot, but also his desire, hunger, and cunning in recovering the ball from a throw-in with his first touch and feeding it to the striker wearing the number 10 shirt. Captain Lautaro took care of the rest, knocking down Fort Pisa with a left-footed shot into the top corner and earning a hug from the Curva before scoring again. Inter scored two goals against Gilardino’s boys – who played well for seventy minutes, with their heads held high – and returned to winning ways after two consecutive defeats. It wasn’t an 8/10 performance, but it was solid and clever. It was useful in dispelling those ghosts that had returned to haunt them.
GOALS: LAUTARO DOUBLE – The spotlight on the first goal goes straight to Esposito, who had just come on. The Italian, lurking like a hawk near the touchline, pounced on Pisa during the throw-in, taking the ball off Aebischer. Zielinski recovered it and served Pio on the left, who found Lautaro in the middle. His goal was a thing of beauty: a left-footed shot into the top corner (69′). Diouf deserves some credit for the second goal. The Frenchman started the move by passing to Barella, who provided Lautaro with the easiest of assists (83′). It was his tenth goal of the season, his sixth in Serie A. He is currently the league’s top scorer.
THE KEY: PRESSURE – It wasn’t a brilliant performance from Inter. For an hour and a half, Chivu’s boys struggled to break down Gila’s five-man defense (three at the back plus two others, a solid unit with Albiol, Caracciolo, and Canestrelli). Luis Henrique, starting away from home, as Chivu prefers, messed up yet another game from the first minute. One wonders why he doesn’t take on his man, dribble and always plays the ball backwards. In the 20th minute, for example, he started Pisa’s move by misplacing a simple pass. Acerbi was also mediocre, struggling against the Pisa forwards, and finally Sucic, who was substituted at the end of the first half. Inter raised their heads with Zielinski. Diouf, who came on in the second half, also did well. After two lackluster performances, the Frenchman also served a nice ball to Lautaro after a run down the right (the post denied him a hat trick).
HEART OF PISA – Pisa have three towers. Gilardino’s game plan is simple: long balls are always aimed at the two strikers up front, Nzola and Meister, who are ready to take the hits, hold the ball and distribute it to the wings, even slipping away at speed. Acerbi, the designated marker, struggled on a couple of occasions and even picked up a yellow card in the first half. On the half-hour mark, Piccinini, following a header from Traoré, took advantage of a gap left open by the Azzurri center back to enter without knocking: his right-footed shot went just wide. Pisa, galvanized by six games without defeat – including three without conceding a goal – tried to lock down the Arena like Fort Knox. It took the battering ram 70 minutes to break down the gate. Gila’s most dangerous man was number 9. Meister, who until three years ago was playing in the Danish fourth division, jostled Acerbi, who was forced to work overtime: in the 50th minute, he saved Inter by anticipating Meister, then thanked Nzola for kicking wide in front of Sommer. Good at getting away from his marker, not at finishing.
FROM THE BALCONIES – The Arena Garibaldi is one of those places that could fall under the heading of “real football.” Nestled between buildings, 700 meters from Piazza dei Miracoli and the famous Tower, it gives those who live next to the stadium the chance to watch the game from their balcony or roof. Just like in Castellammare di Stabia or other places scattered throughout Italy. Today, they saw a world champion – Lautaro – score two goals. But they also saw a courageous Pisa. Not bad.
