In the Coppa Italia between Fiorentina and Inter the strongest won

It was after 11pm when Simone Inzaghi lifted the Coppa Italia to the sky, the second consecutive win as Nerazzurri coach, the third ever as a coach, equaling the number of wins in the competition achieved as a player. Not bad for someone born in 1976. Inzaghi did so by demonstrating that there is only one rational thing in football: to be the most prepared to win.

The victory of the strongest

Fiorentina-Inter it was the victory of the fittest, a natural rule in sport and football. Inzaghi has built a man’s narration of the finals, he has a percentage of victories that everyone envies him, a great credit to those who are aware of their means. It is useless to hide: Vincenzo Italiano’s football is beautiful to look at, potentially puts any team in crisis but deploying Lautaro Martinez in his best moment beats any deployment which has its fulcrum in the development of the maneuver with high rhythms to hurry the opponent with the continuous search for the attack. A tactic that works, like that of the Inter coach who seeks depth. He won the second. It’s easy to say that Cabral and Jovic aren’t worth the attack of one of the two Champions League finalists, the real difference is that Inter has made investments (unthinkable in a square like Florence) to sell the result precisely in these appointments. Sometimes it’s not enough, despite everything Inzaghi has experienced disputes and negative periods during this season, but he has the weapons to turn the matches in his favor as in yesterday’s first half.

What Fiorentina is missing, what Inter has more

It wasn’t a trivial game. Nico Gonzalez, the Argentine soul of Florence, tried to overturn the table as in Basel but a team that is “forced” to have fun to counter the individuality of the opponent, at the same time risks entertaining players like Lautaro. It went like this: two goals in the final quarter of an hour of the first fraction and the final won with a great goal. Attention once again: it is not a single man’s trophy, it is the victory of that rationality that football often forgets.

Fiorentina and Inter have faced each other three times this season, three good matches, lively and full of opportunities, a show for TV and for football lovers. Twice out of three it ended as it was expected to end, that is with the victory of the strongest: in the first round the nerazzurri were cynical in the carambolesco 3-4 of the Franchi, at San Siro the fate turned well for the viola. Yes, fate. Luck is the stone guest when it comes to football. Fiorentina didn’t have much of it, if that ball from Nico or that header from Jovic had gone in we would be talking about something else. Maybe not. A different result would not have changed what was known on the eve of this match. Fiorentina itself is aware of this: if we assume that the final result at the Olimpico was predictable, the same goes for the semifinal against Cremonese. Two acts, of which useless, won for manifest superiority.

What’s the use of compliments after a lost final?

Thoughts that, superstition aside, also resonate at Inter: they were the strongest in Rome, but they won’t be in Istanbul against City. Simone Inzaghi, for his part, knows that playing as Vincenzo Italiano would surely give him lots of applause against Pep Guardiola’s football. The question is another: do you really need compliments after a final?

The answer is not simple. In Florence, where playing the final match of the Coppa Italia remains an event, applause is necessary to accompany a growth path but in Milan it is almost superfluous. Thanks to an Inter that has learned to be the protagonist when needed: in recent months the thrill of direct elimination has filled the empty passages in the championship and the European stage seems to be the one where the Nerazzurri know how to best combine the talent of the individuals and the tactical predisposition to which the coach has accustomed this team. Let’s go back to the names, if Lautaro Martinez doesn’t work, there are still Dzeko and Lukaku. In Italy it is like this, outside it is not. In Europe, the comparison with City might seem merciless if we think that the strongest should always win. We said it: if it happens it’s right that it is, but football always offers the possibility of being the best when needed. If you’re not the strongest, you don’t start beaten. What happened at the Olimpico is normal and rational, what will happen in Istanbul and Prague will be two different stories.