Simone Inzaghi reveals the Scudetto was won with a goal off the training ground and he could ‘already see the signs’ of Inter success from the start.
The coach had always picked up silverware since coming to the Nerazzurri in 2021, but this was the first Serie A title of his career.
It was achieved in the best way possible, by beating rivals Milan in the Derby della Madonnina, what’s more in what was official a Rossoneri ‘home’ fixture.
“It’s an incredible sensation, we did something incredible and it’s only right to share it with as many people as possible,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“There are so many protagonists of this success, first and foremost the players, but also the directors and President Steven Zhang, as anything we needed during this journey was provided for us.
“Clearly, my thoughts also go to my family, my wife Gaia, my children, my parents. My limitation is that often I can’t leave my work at work and tend to bring it home with me, but they were fundamental for me.”
To make it even more special, his brother Pippo was in the DAZN studio as a pundit this evening.
“He was an example to me as a player and then a coach. He is my big brother, the one who kept checking up on me, he remains very important to me. We grew up, but the love between us will never change.”
Francesco Acerbi’s free header and a Marcus Thuram daisy-cutter proved decisive, despite the late Fikayo Tomori goal and tense finale with red cards for Denzel Dumfries, Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria.
“It was a good game, it’s a pity that it got so tense in the last five minutes, as it had been very fair until then. We played well, could’ve scored another goal in the first half, but we are very happy.”
Inzaghi has won six trophies now at Inter, their third most successful coach since the foundation of modern Serie A in 1929-30, following Helenio Herrera and Roberto Mancini on seven apiece.
“It was a long journey for me and my staff. You work every day trying to improve. If I think back to my debut Champions League games here with Real Madrid and Liverpool, who went on to be the finalists that year, I could already see the positive signs and was confident we could build on that to go on and reach six trophies.”
Inzaghi’s journey
Before tonight, the high point of Inzaghi’s coaching career had been reaching the Champions League Final, losing only narrowly to Manchester City in Istanbul.
His ideas of football are far more attacking than predecessor Antonio Conte, as confirmed today by the opening goal where Benjamin Pavard provided the assist for Acerbi, both of them centre-backs.
“I pushed hard to bring Acerbi to Inter, as I knew how important he was for my team at Lazio and what he could bring here. The lads were extraordinary, this morning I got them to train under driving rain to practice set plays and it worked, because the opening goal was something we worked on in training.”
Yet midway through last season, the situation was very different, with reports Inzaghi would be sacked for not getting the Scudetto, until he reached the Champions League Final and won the Coppa Italia too.
The foundations were laid then for the success he is enjoying this evening.
“It was a wonderful journey and I will always thank Lazio too for giving me this opportunity to start my coaching career. We had some very good years there and were top of the table when the season was suspended by COVID. I don’t know if we could’ve won then or not.”
Beppe Marotta revealed Lazio President Claudio Lotito “got angry” that Inter poached Inzaghi when his contract expired.
“Lazio wanted to continue the rapport, but I felt that it was time to make a change. I wasn’t expecting Inter, they had just won the Scudetto, were selling their best players, but something told me I had to come to Inter. I had already worked with Marotta at Sampdoria, I’ve known Ausilio and Baccin for years, Zanetti of course as an opponent, so I knew we could continue an era despite there being some undeniable difficulties.
“During the tough moments, we rode it out and I have absolutely nothing to get off my chest, just to show off some splendid trophies.”
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