The derby of the 16th round of Serie A was played on Sunday evening in Bergamo between Atalanta and Inter Milan. The duel ended with the victory of the guests with 1-0. Lautaro Martinez’s goal from the 65th minute decided. The Argentinian reached a total of 166 goals for Inter, 9 of which in Serie A this season alone. Following the result, Inter remains first in the standings, with 36 points.
Inter is a “goal machine” with Romanian Cristian Chivu, 45, on the bench. He has 35 goals, by far the best attack in Serie A. Atalanta is only 10th in the league, but excels in Europe.
And the other teams on the podium performed on Sunday and won. Inter is followed by AC Milan, who made 35 points after beating Chievo today, 3-0 at home, while the champion Napoli has 34 points, after 2-0 with Cremonese, away.
Atalanta, 5th in the Champions League group after 6 stages, with 13 points and who recently recorded a 2-1 success against Chelsea, proved to be a tough nut for Inter, only 6th in the League, with 12 points. This despite the fact that the hosts did not have the Nigerian Ademola Lookman, who went to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Chivu’s side opened the scoring in the first half through Frenchman Thuram, but the goal was ruled out for an offside position in which passer Martinez was. After the break, Atalanta also scored, but a position outside the game cut off his joy and canceled his success.
Mutu was not backed by Chivu
Adrian Mutu (46 years old), a coach without a team, does not give a second thought to the work of his former colleague from the national team, Cristi Chivu, who wore the armband at the national team during the period when he scored over 100 goals in Serie A.
In the “achievements” section, Mutu named Răzvan Lucescu (56 years old. Even though he did not win the title in the previous season with PAOK Thessaloniki, he managed to qualify for the European spring in the Europa League, where he was eliminated by FCSB.
As for Cristi Chivu, his former generation colleague, currently coach at Inter Milan, Mutu says he will have to fulfill his goals to be named “coach of the year”.
“As a coach, in general, I think Răzvan Lucescu had the most achievements. If you want to ask me about Cristi (no – Chivu), that’s probably what you wanted to ask me… he hasn’t achieved anything yet, he’s only at Inter. Next year, if he achieves his goals, which are big and many at a team like Inter, he will probably be coach of the year next season”, said Mutu for PRO TV and Sport.ro.
The “Brilliant” had a special mention for Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (57 years old), the former coach from Cluj University, who had an impressive career with his team in the previous season, also managing to qualify for the European Cups.
“If I were to name for last season, because this season is still ongoing, in my opinion the coach in League 1 is Ioan Sabău, in my opinion. Nelutus. What he achieved with U Cluj was something extraordinary, the course was a very good one. Many first place stages, play-offs. He would be, in my opinion“, said the man from Pitesti.
Radu Drăgușin returned to the field in an official Premier League match after almost a year
In England, another Romanian had a happy day on Sunday. Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur met in round 18 of the Premier League.
Tottenham beat Crystal Palace 1-0 after a game in which the Londoners controlled the important moments and had two goals disallowed by VAR, both by Richarlison.
The game had a special significance for Radu Drăgușin (23 years old), the Romanian international ticking off his first minutes in an official match after a 332-day break caused by an injury. The stopper was introduced at the end, in the 86th minute, right in place of the only scorer Archie Gray.
Although he played only 12 minutes, Drăgușin won an aerial duel in the opponent’s box and sent a header past the target. In all, he had 9 touches and passed the ball 7 times, according to Opta. The stopper is expected to start in the spring, in the tie with Turkey.
Frank’s side find new success after a run of two defeats in a row and sit 11th in the Premier League with 25 points, while Crystal Palace end the year in 9th with 26p and a negative record of 3 consecutive defeats.
