AFP – Inter Milan head into Sunday’s clash with Juventus in fine spirits after snatching a last gasp win at Young Boys while their Serie A title rivals are struggling to fire under new coach Thiago Motta.
The champions are two points behind league leaders Napoli before what is traditionally the biggest league match of their season, a red-hot rivalry which easily tops the Milan derby for pure hatred.
Simone Inzaghi’s team are a point ahead of third-placed Juve and in good spirits even with injuries beginning to pile up.
Already without key men Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi after both picked up thigh injuries at Roma last weekend, Carlos Augusto was the latest Inter player to pull up during Wednesday’s 1-0 win in Bern.
Inzaghi was forced to bring on his stars after the second string struggled in Switzerland, with Marko Arnautovic and Mehdi Taremi proving to be weak deputies for Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram.
Meanwhile, Juve fell to their first defeat of the season at the hands of Stuttgart, Motta’s team being sunk in stoppage time in Turin after a dreadful display which would have ended in a more embarrassing scoreline had Mattia Perin not performed goalkeeping heroics and saved a late penalty.
Not helping Motta’s cause are a clutch of injuries, the latest a thigh problem for Douglas Luiz who hasn’t impressed since signing for over EUR50 million in the summer.
Nicolas Gonzalez and Teun Koopmeiners are both still out with the latter in particular missed for a Juve team which is struggling to create and score opportunities.
Anything but a win for either team will likely lead to further loss of ground to Napoli, who host on Saturday a Lecce team without a win in five matches and on a run of three defeats on the bounce, the latest a 6-0 home humbling at the hands of Fiorentina.
