Marked for De Lucca
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Nov 2027
The cup run ends for Inter
0‑0 against Forli, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Josep Martínez: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A defender's afternoon for De Lucca
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inter may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Inter
Hakan Çalhanoğlu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kristjan Asllani commits to Inter for another 5 years.
Match6 Nov 2027
Inter come up short against Como
Como left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A defender's afternoon for Marco Bellich
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Inter
The unbeaten run reaches 16. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.91, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Sučić, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
De Lucca signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” De Lucca and Inter agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 May 2027
Defensive actions: 33. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Defensive actions: 32, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inter may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Inter right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings3 May 2027
One of those days for Yoan Bonny
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
5 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match1 May 2027
Parma made Inter work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.74, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
De Lucca in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Josep Martínez decides it from twelve yards
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match20 Jan 2027
Cup progress for Inter
A 1‑1 win over Pescara, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near De Lucca
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Inter
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Marcus Thuram is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.55 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Inter
Alessandro Bastoni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.80, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market18 Jan 2027
Inter say no — this time
The offer from Torino for Petar Sučić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Jan 2027
De Lucca keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inter may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Liverpool have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Francesco Pio Esposito. The answer from Inter has not changed — yet.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Martínez, and the manager let it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Cremonese left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.38 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
Inquest at Inter
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Hakan Çalhanoğlu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.92 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Inter dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Josep Martínez
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Inter have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.