Chivu: ‘Winter Champions means nothing for Inter, must be on top in May’

Cristian Chivu warns it will be ‘a battle to the end for every single point’ for the Scudetto after Inter became Winter Champions with victory over Lecce. ‘What counts is being there in May.’

The Nerazzurri knew they had a huge opportunity to break away at the top of the table after Napoli were held to a 0-0 draw by Parma earlier this evening, in the other Week 16 fixture rescheduled from December for the Supercoppa Italiana commitments.

It looked for a long time as if they too would be frustrated by one of the sides battling against relegation, especially when a penalty was awarded and then revoked following the VAR review.

However, Francesco Pio Esposito came off the bench and was in the right place to meet the rebound from Falcone’s save on Lautaro Martinez at the 78th minute.

Chivu ran up from the touchline to hug the striker, and their bond goes back a long way.

“I remember this little seven-year-old kid, we practically grew up together,” Chivu told DAZN Italia.

“I know him inside out, his family, his ambition, his work from the youth academy. He was my captain in the Inter Primavera squad and I am happy for him, just as I am happy for the whole team, because this was a really complicated game.”

It took a long time to break Lecce down and the first half was disappointingly sluggish from Inter.

“I expected it to be difficult, because when you use up as much energy as we did in the game with Napoli on Sunday and didn’t get the full result, that weighs on you. I remember as a player that facing another game 72 hours later was one of the toughest things to do,” explained the coach.

“Despite the difficulties finding a way through and the right sharpness to make certain choices, this team had the right attitude, it believed to the end and had the heart to carry home the victory.

“These are games where it’s more likely you lose than win. These lads deserve success, as they did everything to bring the result home.”

Chivu surprised so many of the media in Italy by giving his team a day off in the build-up to this match, despite having played on Sunday. Seeing the poor first half performance, did he think maybe it wasn’t a good idea?

“Or we could turn the question around and say maybe we won because of the day off,” he replied.

“It’s all relative, I don’t have to justify my choices. I make these decisions because of my experience, of what I see in training, what I see in the eyes of these players. Maybe Italian football isn’t used to the way I do some things and they might seem strange, sometimes they pay off and others they don’t, but all that doesn’t interest me. What interests me is the next five months of this season.

“I trust these lads, nobody guarantees that you win with a training retreat. Considering all the training retreats I had as a player, I should’ve won every tournament. I trust the maturity of my players.”

Because this was technically a Week 16 game, it means Inter are now officially the Winter Champions of Serie A, as they are top of the table at the midway stage, six clear of Napoli.

Milan could still close that gap, but they have a tricky match of their own away to Como tomorrow night.

“I had won this semi-title of Winter Champion before in my career, but it counts for nothing, what matters is being there in May,” noted Chivu.

“What this means is that we’re competitive, but as I said the other day, it’ll be a battle to the end for every single point.”

Inter have famously not beaten any of the other big clubs this season in Serie A, but unlike those teams, they have an almost faultless record against the less prestigious opponents.