Milan coping better than Inter without its veteran talisman

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan is coping higher with out its veteran talisman than Inter Milan. And that’s dangerous information for defending champion Inter heading into the ultimate 4 matches of the Italian league season.

Milan has needed to play massive swathes of the season with out Zlatan Ibrahimović however dealt along with his absence effectively, with the 40-year-old ahead a continuing presence on the sidelines, cheering and urging his youthful teammates on.

Inter performed one match with out its captain Samir Handanović and should effectively have seen its probabilities of retaining the title evaporate. The 37-year-old goalkeeper faces a race to be match for Sunday’s match at Udinese, which has change into a must-win recreation.

Handanović, who had performed all 33 of Inter’s earlier league video games this season, missed Wednesday’s rescheduled match towards Bologna with a again drawback and was changed by Ionuț Radu.

Inter appeared on the right track for victory following Ivan Perišić’s third-minute opener however Marko Arnautović leveled and a horrendous mistake from Radu gifted Bologna the winner — and probably Milan the title — 9 minutes from time.

The 24-year-old Radu left the sector in tears and needed to be comforted by his teammates, together with Denzel Dumfries, who additionally tried to dam the tv cameras from filming the goalkeeper’s misery.

Handanović walked from the bench to the tunnel with out showing to present his sobbing teammate a look.

“My entire employees and I’ve actually nice confidence in Radu,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi mentioned after the match. “If an attacker makes a mistake, or a defender loses his man, it’s talked about much less. It was an unlucky incident which penalized us however unlucky incidents ought to all the time be prevented.

“If we had been 2-0 or 3-0 up it wouldn’t have mattered that a lot, Radu ought to keep calm as a result of he is a superb goalkeeper and has a really rosy profession forward of him.”

For 4 months, Inter Milan had been pointing to its postponed match at Bologna as an opportunity to realize floor within the title race however as an alternative it left the Nerazzurri two factors behind Serie A frontrunner Milan.

Inter Milan’s Ionut Radu, middle, after the Serie A soccer match between Bologna and Inter Milan at Renato Dall’Ara stadium in Bologna, Italy, Wednesday April 27, 2022. Bologna received the match 2-1.

Milan may even afford to attract one in every of its remaining matches because it additionally has the higher head-to-head document, which is the primary tiebreaker within the Italian league.

“This defeat actually hurts however we should bounce again immediately,” Inzaghi mentioned. “We’ve one other recreation to play in three days’ time, then our final three with the Coppa Italia remaining in between. We should put together correctly for these previous couple of video games though we’re now not masters of our personal future.

“It hurts to lose and it’s tougher for us now. However we have to preserve going, taking into account that we’re enjoying catchup. It was all in our arms and now we’re behind. We’ve discovered ourselves behind different groups earlier than, although. All we are able to do now’s win all our remaining video games.”

Radu virtually put Inter out of the Italian Cup, too. He scored an own-goal in his solely different look for Inter this season to place Empoli 2-1 up of their round-of-16 match earlier than a stoppage-time strike from Andrea Ranocchia despatched the match to further time, the place Stefano Sensi scored the winner.

Inter will likely be hoping to have Handanović again for the match towards Udinese. Handanović has helped his facet have the meanest protection in Serie A, permitting solely 26 targets in 33 matches earlier than its 2-1 defeat to Bologna.

After the journey to Udine, Inter performs Empoli at dwelling and is then away at Cagliari earlier than internet hosting Sampdoria within the remaining match of the season.

Milan hosts Fiorentina on Sunday earlier than matches towards Hellas Verona, Atalanta and Sassuolo.

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