By David Rodich
The honeymoon period just ended between Inter Milan and Leonardo, the coach that began his Inter tenure with five straight wins, as the Nerazzurri fell 3-1 on Sunday to Udinese.
The round 21 match started well for the visiting Inter side: a 16 minute Stankovic goal put them up an early 1-0. The home side countered though, and their pressure forward produced two goals (both from set pieces) in the 21st and 25th minutes. After another Udinese strike from a set piece in the second half, the match ran away from Inter, who never looked quite as energetic as their hosts. Inter players did not hesitate to recognize Udinese’s quality play.
“Udinese are probably the most in-form team in the league at the moment,” said Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic.
Thiago Motta added, “Udinese played very well indeed: their midfielders are strong, quick and skilful. They deserved to win today.”
Inter President Massimo Moratti, when asked if fatigue was a factor (Inter has been playing many in-week matches as of late) responded, “Perhaps the players were a bit tired. But Udinese played very well, and we must accept that.”
The team is happy to leave this defeat behind them and get back to the task of climbing back up the Serie A table. Their next match is Wednesday against Napoli.
