What looked like a season heading towards a downward spiral ended up verging on the heroic. In the 2022/23 season, Inter bagged two trophies and only lost one by a fine margin—a feat Simone Inzaghi would never have expected midway through the season when the sacking rumours began. This is what Inter’s season had to offer.
EARLY WARNING SIGNS
We can encapsulate Inter’s 2022/23 transfer moves in Romelu Lukaku’s return on loan and Andre Onana’s entry as a free agent. Although some additional entries were made, such as those of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Kristjan Asllani and Raoul Bellanova, there was little to be excited about. Fans expected more, especially after losing the Serie A title to city rivals AC Milan by just a couple of points the season prior.
Inter fans were proven right when the new campaign started. During the first five games, Inter lost out to Lazio and AC Milan, succumbing to another defeat in the Champions League against a Bayern Munich side that didn’t really break a sweat. Back-to-back losses against Udinese and AS Roma marked four losses out of eight Serie A fixtures. Fans, and to a lesser extent, the club board, became agitated. Sacking Simone Inzaghi couldn’t have been a more opportune possibility, given that the season still had a long way to go. Nevertheless, Inter let the Italian tactician work out his team’s shortcomings, a challenge he succeeded at.
GROWING POTENTIAL WHEN IT CAN’T BE SEEN
With most of Inter’s players past their 30s, the team was labelled well past its prime. The starters pushing 30 were Hakan Calhanoglu (28), Romelu Lukaku (29) and Marcelo Brozovic (29), whereas those well over their 30s were Stefan de Vrij (30), Matteo Darmian (32), Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Danilo D’Ambrosio (33), Francesco Acerbi (34), Edin Dzeko (36) and Samir Handanovic (37), who was later dropped in favour of Andre Onana.
Some argued that the lack of young talent wasn’t Inzaghi’s fault, especially seeing as Inter’s performances were rarely atrocious, even during defeats. The Nerazzurri always posed major threats in lost games, never succumbing to the gravity of the result and always seeing games out till the end. This trait, while not as valuable as three points, proved to be a mentality that would see them verge on the cusp of a heroic UCL triumph later on.
A 1-0 win against Barcelona in October injected enthusiasm in Inzaghi’s men, as did a brave 3-3 draw at Camp Nou a week later. Inter only lost twice in 16 games during that period, boosting them to a solid position in all competitions—despite Inter’s efforts, the Serie A race was being dominated by eventual champions Napoli. This superb run of form proved that not only was Inzaghi the right man for the job, but Inter was from the career graveyard it was being made out to be.
WHERE MENTALITY THRIVES, SUCCESS FOLLOWS
Inzaghi’s decision to promote new signing Onana in place of veteran Handanovic halfway through the season helped greatly. Not only was Inter a tough nut to crack, but its attacking prowess was on regular display thanks to the effective Dzeko-Lautaro duo. Lukaku, still out of form, started making spotty appearances, growing in confidence the more time went on.
The Supercoppa fixture on January 18 was a good test for Inzaghi’s side, one which it passed with flying colours. The Nerazzurri trashed the Rossoneri 3-0 in an uncontested display of hunger, planning and execution, claiming their first title of the season. This was exactly what Inter needed before its Round-of-16 clash against Porto.
Despite suffering some very humbling defeats in the Serie A before and after the UCL fixtures against Porto, Inter managed to squeeze out a 1-0 aggregate win, many thanks to Onana’s superb performance in the return leg. Another two league defeats to Juventus and Fiorentina ensued, but Inter managed to beat the former in the Coppa Italia as well as Benfica in the UCL quarter-finals. After the Portuguese came Inter’s city rivals. Two semi-final ties against AC Milan proved much less challenging than anticipated, whereby Inter sailed to a 3-0 aggregate win.
The bottom line is that Inter excelled in cup competitions at the expense of the Serie A fixtures—a trade-off that most Inter fans were overjoyed with, considering the outcome.
Inter went on to beat Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia final in March, adding to the season’s trophy collection. A subsequent win against Atalanta secured the Nerazzurri qualification to next season’s UCL, but up next was their ultimate challenge: Manchester City.
ONE LAST HURRAH
As we’ve mentioned above, Inter’s ageing squad had never made it to a UCL final before. This was the highlight of the players’ careers, but it had to end in sorrow. Despite battling well, Inter lost 1-0 to a much superior Manchester City side. Some questionable decisions by Martinez and equally questionable positioning from Lukaku impeded Inter’s efforts at doing the unthinkable. With a severe lack of quality on the bench compared to Manchester City, Inzaghi couldn’t do much against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Nevertheless, Inter’s UCL campaign brought in more than just the fans’ long-lost hope of competing on the global stage of football. The undisclosed prize money will serve Inter well in balancing the books, a matter that the Nerazzurri cannot take lightly.
With the entry of Davide Frattesi and possibly a permanent purchase of Lukaku, Inter fans can be optimistic about their team’s chances of competing for the Serie A next season, with any success in cup competitions being a welcoming gift.