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Inter rallies to burst Juve bubble as Real notches record Spain win
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A SIXTH successive Serie A title for Juventus might not be the foregone conclusion it appeared to be at the start of the season.
Cracks have started to appear and Juventus lost its perfect start to the season on Sunday as Inter Milan came from behind to win the Derby d’Italia 2-1.
Mauro Icardi and substitute Ivan Perisic scored for Inter to cancel out Stephan Lichtsteiner’s opener.
“We couldn’t hold out for even two minutes (after scoring),” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. “It’s brought us back to earth, we will have to fight. This defeat hurts us but at least it will do us good.
“Wednesday we’re playing against Cagliari and we have the chance to immediately get back on track and take home the three points.”
Juventus, which also drew 0-0 against Sevilla in the Champions League, was very much second best at San Siro for large periods — and this against a team which lost 0-2 at home to Hapoel Beer-Sheva in the Europa League last Thursday.
Inter had won just one of its first three league matches. Coach Frank de Boer, who replaced Roberto Mancini less than two weeks before the start of the season, was very much under pressure amid reports of being fired if the Nerazzurri lost heavily to its bitter rival.
“I don’t want to talk about revenge, I can’t do miracles,” De Boer said. “Today we didn’t lose our heads. The team played very well and we deserved to win. Today I saw the team fight right until the end and we have so much quality if we do that.”
Juventus broke the deadlock in the 66th minute. Lichsteiner, who had been strongly linked with Inter in the offseason, got in front of Davide Santon to volley in Alex Sandro’s cross from close range.
However, Icardi had scored six goals in his last seven Serie A matches against Juventus and he struck again, heading in a corner just two minutes after the opener.
It was the Argentina forward’s fourth goal in his last three league matches.
Indeed no one else had scored for Inter this season until Perisic headed in Icardi’s cross in the 78th.
Allegri had brought on Gonzalo Higuain four minutes earlier but Italy’s most expensive signing could not change anything.
Juventus is second, a point behind Napoli, which is now the only unbeaten side in the league.
In Spain, Real Madrid equaled a record set by rival Barcelona as James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema scored in a 2-0 defeat of Espanyol on Sunday in La Liga.
It was the 16th straight league win for Real, going back to last season, matching Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2010-11 season and it maintained a three-point lead over Barcelona with its fourth straight league victory this season.
Real’s victory came despite the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, who were rested by coach Zinedine Zidane.
Real is the only team to have won four straight to start the season. Barcelona won 5-1 at Leganes on Saturday to rebound from a 1-2 home loss to Alaves a week ago. Atletico Madrid routed Sporting Gijon 5-0 to win its second consecutive match and reach eight points, behind third-place Las Palmas, the league’s early surprise team.
Rodriguez opened the scoring by converting a penalty kick in first-half injury time and Benzema sealed the away victory from close range in the 71st minute.
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