A fearful Lazio made the final effort of the year easier. Marusic’s own goal and the usual Lautaro’s poacher’s finish brought Inter the tenth Coppa Italia of their history: the Double delivered and the Nerazzurri in ecstasy. All this only a few days after mathematically winning the Scudetto, while waiting to celebrate the title at San Siro in front of the Nerazzurri people. It feels like a lifetime ago, and yet it has only been a year since the Scudetto lost in the head-to-head with Napoli, and then the psychodrama in Munich at the hands of PSG: it could have been the final of the collapse — and judging by the scoreline, it was — but evidently it did not leave the emotional after-effects that many feared. The credit for this turnaround must be attributed above all to Cristian Chivu. And to a group of players who may also have reached the end of their cycle, but who within this cycle have won like no one else in this phase in Italy.
Since 2021, that makes three Scudetti, three Coppe Italia and just as many Supercoppe. With the two Champions League finals that should not be treated as a diminutio: it could have been an incredible era, but it remains the path of a great team. Because perhaps too quickly, and too easily, the Nerazzurri were labelled the new power of Italian football after a decade of Juventus monopoly. We are dealing with another kind of season, however, one in which the technical values of Serie A are more levelled out and it is harder to emerge from the group of contenders who legitimately aim for the Scudetto every year. In six seasons — with three different coaches at the helm: Conte, Inzaghi, Chivu — Inter have won every domestic trophy in half of the possible circumstances. It is not absolute domination, but a relative supremacy that Lautaro and his teammates have managed to build on the pitch.
And let us turn to the technical leadership. If Conte had brought the winning mentality and Simone Inzaghi the leap in quality needed to dream big, Chivu’s skill was first and foremost that of quickly reinvigorating an inevitably discouraged environment: going from a potential Treble to coming away empty-handed on all fronts is not an easy verdict for anyone to digest. Last summer many Nerazzurri players could have been short of motivation — and with a few pebbles in their shoes, as the Calhanoglu case shows. Within a few weeks, however, they found it again, came back together and returned to doing what they know: winning as many matches as possible. In Europe the wound remains open — and Bodo/Glimt is a knife being twisted in it — but in Italy the restart was blistering. And this Double, the first conventional one of this five-year period, the first since Mourinho’s time and his unforgettable Treble, represents a success that tastes like revenge.
Sommer, Bastoni, de Vrij, Acerbi, Frattesi, perhaps also Mkhitaryan and who knows who else: there are many Nerazzurri players who could be on their way out. And yet many of them have honoured the shirt with outstanding performances until the very end — think of the Armenian, who in recent weeks has also been a factor in front of goal — and have helped the team’s driving forces to shine like never before. Federico Dimarco is having the best season of his career. Lautaro and Calhanoglu, injuries aside, are recording a very high goals/minutes-played average. Maybe Marcus Thuram has not been as overwhelming as he was two years ago, but after a dip he too has bounced back in a big way. And then there are the new players coming through: Sucic, Bonny, Pio Esposito. They are already protagonists of Inter’s present, but Inter’s future will have to restart from them. That will be discussed later. “Winning two trophies is never a given,” Chivu rightly said after the final in Rome. “We are happy, now we are enjoying it.” And the Nerazzurri fans are right to enjoy this team.
In light of all this, it is inevitable to close by talking about the club. About the strength of Marotta and all the other directors, about the way Inter — understood as a club, as a team, but also as an environment — have managed to recover after every disappointment. After every high-profile departure. Only a great working group could have absorbed Conte’s departure and then Inzaghi’s so well, only a truly great working group could have relaunched without revolutionizing, won and convinced after two Champions League finals lost at the finishing line, elevating the likes of Lautaro, Barella, Bastoni, De Vrij, Dimarco and Calhanoglu to the status of true Inter icons. They are the men who forged a great winning cycle, culminating in an unexpected and deserved Double, at the peak of a project that seemed past its sell-by date and instead was not.