Internazionale – Juventus: Late Penalty Gifts Juventus A Share Of The Spoils (1-1)

Hosting their massive rivals, Internazionale caused structural issues for the Juventus’ 4-4-2 defensive shape as they troubled their visitors on the flanks. Juve’s struggles going forward continued as the attacking players barely connected or disrupted the five-man Inter backline for most of the game. Their search for an equalizer looked likely to end without success if not for a late defensive error for the hosts.
Tactical analysis and match report by Julian Chingoma.

Juventus had bounced back from a disastrous start and had sights on quickly climbing into Champions League consideration. And despite their earlier issues, they stood only three points behind their hosts for this clash, Internazionale. A few recent bumps had soured an otherwise good start to their league campaign. Both sides, however, trailed the early frontrunners for the league title, Napoli and AC Milan, by some margin.

Simone Inzaghi deployed a 3-5-2 formation for the home side. Samir Handanović was in goal and the back three consisted of Alessandro Bastoni, Stefan de Vrij and Milan Škriniar. The wing-backs were Matteo Darmian and Ivan Perišić while in midfield, Inter had Nicolò Barella, Marcelo Brozović and Hakan Çalhanoğlu. The two strikers were then Edin Džeko and Lauturo Martínez.

To face Inzaghi’s side, Massimiliano Allegri used his usual 4-4-2 base formation with Wojciech Szczęsny behind the back four of Danilo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Alex Sandro. Juan Cuadrado, Manuel Locatelli, Weston McKennie and Federico Bernardeschi were the four in midfield as Dejan Kulusevski partnered Álvaro Morata up front.

Inter on top 
Juventus weer pushed back early as home side take possessional control. And when building against Juve . . .