Inter-Napoli, Chivu: "There's disappointment, but the draw is fair. The Scudetto? It'll be a battle to the finish."

Cristian Chivu leaves San Siro with mixed feelings. The 2-2 draw against Napoli leaves Inter with the knowledge that they played a high-quality match, but also with the disappointment of not being able to win a direct match that had seen them lead twice. "Two strong teams faced each other and did everything they could to win. It's disappointing that we took the lead twice, but when you face a team like that, it's never easy."

The Nerazzurri coach, however, acknowledges the balance seen on the pitch and is not looking for excuses. “It was a match that rightly ended in a draw based on what we saw.” A clear judgment, which takes into account Inter's mistakes and the merits of their opponents. “We didn't have the clarity to take it all the way, but Napoli deserves credit for believing in it and doing everything they could to equalize and even win it.”

Chivu highlights his team's attitude as the most encouraging aspect, while admitting some excesses. "I'm still determined to always push forward, perhaps even a little too much at times, because we were late to the pressure. They're very good at dribbling in the short range." A key move came at the start of the second half, when Napoli had taken control. “In the first twenty minutes of the second half they really put us in difficulty, then little by little we came out of it.”

Finally, the focus shifts to the league. For Chivu, Inter and Napoli represent Serie A's elite. "They're two strong teams that have raised the bar for Italian football. We're disappointed not to have won a direct match, but we're moving forward." And the season finale, he promises, will be anything but predictable. “It will be a point-by-point battle until the end, between four or five teams.”