Inter 1-1 Juventus: 3 key takeaways from an intense Derby d’Italia

The celebration from Paulo Dybala and co. was a match-winning one, although it was eventually the confirmation of Juventus’ late equaliser against Inter Milan on Sunday evening.

The jollification that followed the goal epitomised how much one point could mean to this Bianconeri side — especially when the opponents are Inter, the Old Lady’s fiercest rivals.

Perhaps Inter were unfortunate to lose two valuable points in the way they did. On the contrary, Juventus might feel that the lady luck was in their favour. But, at the end of the night, Juventini interpreted the latest Derby d’Italia as the recovery of one point rather than the slipping away of two.

Thanks to the 1-1 draw, Juve now sit sixth with 15 points, while Inter remain third with 18 after nine games in the 2021/22 Serie A season. In the game, Edin Džeko drew first blood, making full use of a rebound that fell in his path following a deflected Hakan Çalhanoğlu shot that had hit the crossbar. Unlike Juventus, the Nerazzurri seemed prepared for the mega occasion in the first half.

But, in the second half of the game, Juve were able to show some urgency, with Denzel Dumfries committing a childish foul on Alex Sandro that, in the eyes of the referee following VAR intervention, was a penalty. Up stepped the returning Paulo Dybala.

Quite nonchalantly, La Joya put the ball past Samir Handanović from the spot, claiming an unforeseen comeback for the visitors. Even though the game ended in a stalemate, the 90 minutes of football involved many taking points. Let’s take a look at three of them.

3. Different-half-different Juventus strike again!

Ever since the beginning of Massimiliano Allegri’s second tenure in Turin, the consistency in being inconsistent has remained an apparent theme for the Bianconeri. There have already been several games where two different halves have defined two different sorts of performance from the men in black and white.

On Sunday, it was no different, with the Juve players making a glut of errors in the first half and then returning to patch them up in the second 45 minutes of the game. Perhaps Max Allegri should start giving his half-time pep talk at the start of every game from now on.

However, Juventus were unsuccessful in creating anything for their forwards in the first 45 minutes. Manuel Locatelli played one of his most unconvincing halves of football in a Bianconeri shirt.

Before having any impact at all, Federico Bernardeschi was out injured. He seemingly dislocated his shoulder. Amid the smoke of the reliever sprayed on Bernardeschi’s shoulder to cure his pain, there came Rodrigo Bentancur to replace the injured Italian. Though, his inclusion had little effect on Juventus’ disjointed performance.

In the second half, we saw a reaction from the visitors — more so after Federico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala were introduced. Eventually, one error from Inter’s substitute Denzel Dumfries cost them two points. The first half was abysmal, and the second half from Juve was not an outstanding display either but was better than the first.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen how stubborn this Bianconeri side could become. Well, they need to add more consistency so that observers could see the balance of brilliance between the first and second half. Winning the penalty that led to Inter fans shedding tears might’ve been amusing for Juventini, but this different-half-different Juventus bears some worrying signs for the future of the 36-time Scudetto winners.