The Serie A season bowed out not with a whimper, but with a wonderfully chaotic crescendo at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Inter, already crowned Scudet...
The Serie A season bowed out not with a whimper, but with a wonderfully chaotic crescendo at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Inter, already crowned Scudetto winners and basking in the glow of a pre match guard of honour, found themselves 3 1 down to a vibrant Bologna side that simply refused to play the role of obliging guests. It was the kind of match that makes you question everything you thought you knew about a team's mentality. After all, what is the point of the champion's swagger if you cannot summon it when the chips are downBologna, driven by a frenetic energy that has characterised their entire campaign, struck early and with conviction. Their transitional play was crisp, their movement off the ball a constant headache for an Inter backline that looked, for twenty minutes, like a side that had already booked its holiday. The hosts carved through the visitors with a ruthless efficiency, making it 3 1 and sending the home crowd into a state of joyous delirium. It was squeaky bum time for Simone Inzaghi, who looked less like a man about to lift a trophy and more like a manager whose team had just bottled a two goal lead in a Champions League semi final.But here is where the champions' DNA kicked in. Inter did not park the bus. They did not accept the defeat. Instead, they threw bodies forward and played with the kind of desperation you usually see from a side fighting relegation. They got a goal back, a scrappy affair that owed more to a confused low block than any intricate build up. Then came the real test. With time bleeding away, they poured forward again, and a moment of sheer power and will forced an equaliser. The roar from the away end was one of relief, not celebration. They had salvaged a point from a game they had no right to salvage, and in doing so, reminded us all that even in a dead rubber, the fight is the thing that matters most.This was not a perfect performance. Far from it. The defensive structure was a shambles for large spells, and Bologna's clinical finishing exposed a vulnerability that will haunt Inter's coaching staff all summer. Yet there is a certain poetry in finishing a title winning season with such a thrilling, flawed, and utterly human display. It was not a coronation. It was a scrap. And for the neutral, it was the best possible advertisement for the beautiful game's capacity to surprise. The Scudetto is already in the cabinet. This 3 3 draw was the messy, glorious after party nobody expected.
