Journalist: Inter Milan Lost with Dignity, While Napoli's Defeat Was Too Ugly

During a connection with radio station Mana Mana Sport, journalist Riccardo Trevisani compared Inter Milan and Napoli's Champions League defeats against Real Madrid and Arsenal respectively.

Trevisani said: "I saw the ratings that gave a 6.5 score to players who performed poorly, and apparently anything can be justified. Luck always runs out eventually; the ball will go in at some point, otherwise the match would have ended 0-0 and simply been an extremely poor game. But the newspapers wrote things like 'poor team' and 'this is just how the team is': in fact, Napoli's matches against Arsenal and Inter Milan's matches against Napoli were the two games in which Napoli gave opponents the highest expected goals (xG) opportunities."

Then there is the art of defending: zero points, which was Napoli's worst statistic in club history. The ratings? 6.5, the same as Arteta's: that's how it is. One reason this country has failed to produce results at three World Cups is partly because of those professionals who remain silent, follow along, and avoid criticism.

A calm analysis would say that Arsenal are stronger and more mature than Napoli: Anguissa and McTominay were both absent, but the mindset of not wanting to take the initiative still remained... Do you really think Brentford against Arsenal could produce an xG of 0.15? No, a team would actively press Arsenal: it might still lose in the end, but the positioning and style of play in 2026 should be different. After the match they also said, 'We defended very well': with an xG of 4.06, is that really defending well? They wasted three chances in front of goal.

The issue is how you lose and the series of comments that follow afterward: because the final score was only 0-1. I would say that if the match had ended 0-3, the same people would have called it a collapse; but now everyone is happy because it ended in this completely accidental way. There are different ways to lose. Like Inter Milan's match in Madrid: that was a dignified defeat. You play football, you strike at the opponent and take hits yourself, seeing who gains the advantage, and eventually lose 2-1: Inter Milan in Madrid was a dignified defeat.

Napoli against Arsenal was not the same. Real Madrid against Inter Milan could even have ended 3-1, but Inter's performance in that match was respectable and also made opponents wary: yesterday's match looked like a one-sided contest, as if there was no way back. Do you really enjoy watching this kind of thing? Do you like this kind of football? I think this kind of performance was disappointing.