Serie A’s hierarchy takes shape with wild night in Milan and flat draw in Turin | Nicky Bandini

Inter’s victory over Napoli had the feel of a title race classic, while Juventus and Milan exposed familiar shortcomings despite their summer spending Already as the words were being spoken, Cristian Chivu started to bristle. “ Scontri diretti ” translates to “head-to-head clashes”. The term is commonly deployed in a football context as a shorthand for those high-stakes games between teams who are expected to finish close together in the table – much like “six-pointers” in the English game. Chivu’s Inter finished 11 points clear atop Serie A last season, his first as their head coach, but caught criticism along the way for an early Champions League exit and underperformance in some scontri diretti . Inter lost four out of six games against Napoli, Milan and Juventus. Their only win, at home to the Bianconeri , came after Alessandro Bastoni deceived a referee to get Pierre Kalulu sent off . Continue reading...