Serie A Briefing: Chivu's Inter stun rising Como, Milan flop again and Ranieri skewers Gasperini

AtalantaInternazionaleJuventusMilanNapoliScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsAnalysisSerie A Briefing: Chivu’s Inter stun rising Como, Milan flop again and Ranieri skewers GasperiniDenzel Dumfries and Ange-Yoan Bonny celebrate during Inter's comeback win against Como Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images Share full articleCristian Chivu’s face has always fit at Inter. He has never tried to be anybody else, even if, on the pitch, a resemblance to Simone Inzaghi is inevitable. “You get the chance to put on thousands of masks in the world of football,” he said. “Choosing not to put one on is real courage.” Chivu is Inter, and so when he has defended his players perhaps too much, as was the case with Alessandro Bastoni after the Derby d’Italia, he is still being true to himself and to his club. He has not convinced everyone in his first full season as a coach in Serie A. Big-game defeats and Inter’s elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Bodo/Glimt have led to criticism. Tactically, the team is less interesting, perhaps less modern than at Inzaghi’s avant-garde peak. Since mid-February, a negativity has lingered in the air reminiscent of Arsenal’s predicament in the Premier League. Dissatisfaction and doubts surfaced at a time when their title rivals remained at a distance. Whenever Milan and Napoli have threatened to get close, a slip has quickly followed. Victory in the Derby della Madonnina was, in Milan’s case, the preamble to an unexpected defeat to depressed Lazio. As for Napoli, their own resurgence hit a brick wall in Parma this weekend. Twenty shots and only one got through, a Scott McTominay equaliser, in a disappointing 1-1 draw. “The dream isn’t over yet,” Antonio Conte said. “There are still six games to go and Inter are yet to play.” Inter were in Como where they relinquished the title on the final day of last season. They were without their captain and the league’s top scorer, Lautaro Martinez. They were 2-0 down too. As has all too frequently been the case this season, their goalkeeper Yann Sommer was at fault. It looked like Como were taking another step towards Champions League football. “Two years ago I tried to organise a friendly with Inter,” Cesc Fabregas said, recalling their time in Serie B. “It was a dream for us. Now it seems like we’re expected to beat Inter.” Unbeaten in seven, Como have already matched their highest-ever points total in Serie A, established in 1951. Weirdly, back home in Milan, Inter’s cousins were rooting for a comeback. Milan lost 3-0 to Udinese on Saturday. It was the biggest defeat in Max Allegri’s two spells at San Siro, the third in four games. The team was whistled off. It has stopped scoring. The chances Rafa Leao and Christian Pulisic put away in the first half of the season now go begging. Worryingly for the U.S. ahead of the World Cup, Pulisic hasn’t found the back of the net at all in 2026. A change of system hasn’t got a reaction out of Milan. The end of their title hopes has left them fleetingly without purpose and openly vulnerable. “We got a bit lucky,” Udinese coach Kosta Runjaic admitted. But credit where it is due. Udinese have won on both visits to San Siro this season. They’ve upset Inter, Napoli, Roma and Atalanta. That isn’t luck. Milan’s tailspin is a reminder of how fast things can change in football. In the blink of an eye, Milan have gone from wishing Inter drop points to hoping they go to Como and win, as the risk of falling out of the top four has become all too real. Juventus are piling the pressure on. The players responded to Luciano Spalletti extending his contract until 2028 by going to Atalanta and winning. They had only one shot on target. Atalanta’s former players Emil Holm and Jeremie Boga combined against their former club. “It’s hard to take,” Raffaele Palladino said. He has the highest points-per-game average of any coach in Atalanta history, even Gian Piero Gasperini. “But this is football. Games like this happen once or twice a season. We had 20 shots and more, the lion’s share of the ball and gave up very little. We didn’t capitalise.” It meant Juventus moved within three points of Milan. By 8.30pm on Sunday, Como were within two. The league once again underlined the depths of its internal competitiveness. Except at the very top, that is. Inter put four past Como in December. They scored another four on Sunday against a team that still has the best defence in the league… It was the first time Inter turned a scoreline like that around on the road since 2013. Allegri could, at least for another week, wipe his brow. “We showed our character and upped the tempo in the second half,” Chivu said. Inter also reminded everyone of how good they are from set plays. All too absent this season, the combination of Hakan Calhanoglu and Denzel Dumfries proved devastating. The Turk’s chipped deliveries, the Dutchman’s hang-time, a 16th headed goal of the season. “They’re too strong,” Fabregas said. “We tried some things. I don’t know if you saw. We played four players up front and surprised them a bit. We had some good counter-attacking opportunities in the first half but they have this power. You saw it not only against us. They do it to everyone. I think they’ve scored an unbelievable number of set pieces this season. Twenty or something like that.” In addition to a couple of Como mistakes, which facilitated well-timed Marcus Thuram goals either side of half-time, this prowess from dead balls enabled Inter to get back into a game Como kept them out of for the first 45 minutes. “I’m not going to talk tactics today,” Fabregas said. “The stats are what they are.” Twenty-four shots to seven and 60 per cent possession to 40 in Como’s favour. The understandable blip in their irresistible form didn’t only cause Milan relief. It breathed a bit of life into the other Champions League chasers. Juventus’ overtake stuck and, just a week after losing 5-2 to Inter at San Siro, Roma were also able to keep their own chances alive with a 3-0 win over Pisa. Donyell Malen’s hat-trick deserved to be the focus of that victory on Friday night. Since Malen’s debut for Roma in mid-January, only Harry Kane has scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues. Alas, the decision of senior advisor Claudio Ranieri to address reports of a rift between him and coach Gasperini became the story of the weekend. As with Chivu, no masks were worn by Ranieri. His apparent frustration with Gasperini’s regular criticism of sporting director Ricky Massara, some of Roma’s signings and the club’s medical staff, came to the fore. “We drew up a list of five or six coaches (to replace me),” Ranieri said. “Three didn’t come and the club chose Gasperini. We chose him on the back of the job he did with Atalanta, where he started out with kids and took them to the big stage. We signed kids and I say ‘we’ because we chose them together, Gasperini included. There isn’t a player we signed he didn’t know about and didn’t approve.” Gasp wisely dodged questions about Ranieri’s comments afterwards and was praised for his dribbling ability. Still, it was hard to escape the impression he’d been put in his place. The club expect Ranieri and Gasperini to get back on the same page. After Jose Mourinho’s dismissal in 2024, less drama was expected. For the club’s owners, The Friedkin Group, Everton must be remarkably low maintenance by comparison. While Napoli, Milan, Juventus, Como and Roma scrap it out for Champions League football, Inter can breathe a little easier and feel confident about a third title under a third different coach in the last five years. Chivu’s football may be less elaborate than Inzaghi’s and more one-dimensional, but in his first year at this level, he has kept Allegri, Conte and Spalletti, all past title winners, at bay. The team has overcome Sommer’s wobbles at one end by scoring 75 goals at the other. That’s a full 27 more than Napoli and 28 more than Milan, even with Lautaro missing long spells of 2026. This was a team supposed to be at the end of a cycle, with a dressing room many thought fractured at the Club World Cup. Instead, Chivu has managed to keep this team winning, integrating every new signing bar Andy Diouf, as well as bringing through kids like Francesco Pio Esposito. A double is still on the cards. The job he has done has largely been diminished by our own desire for a title race that became a one-team breakaway between November and February, when Inter won 14 of 15 games. Only two points worse off than at this stage last season, the reigning champions Napoli have not been able to keep the same pace, in part because of an unprecedented injury crisis through the winter. Even with everyone fit, it might have been a challenge. Without a mask, it has undoubtedly been easy to recognise the winner in Chivu. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms James Horncastle covers Serie A for The Athletic. He joins from ESPN and is working on a book about Roberto Baggio. Follow James on Twitter @JamesHorncastle