Matteo's header extinguished the momentum of Inter Milan's strong comeback, and for Inter, this was a game where they lost to themselves! The fatal flaw in defending aerial balls directly led to their defeat in Turin tonight! However, Ranocchia, who is 193 cm tall, only managed two header clearances throughout the match, which is clearly unsatisfactory. Lucio and Samuel, last season’s starting center-back pairing, averaged over ten header clearances per game. In fact, during the weekend's match between Inter and Roma, Ranocchia exposed his weakness in defending against aerial balls; Roma's second goal originated from a header that hit the post inside the penalty area, allowing Loria to score amidst the chaos. In the three recent league games where Ranocchia started, Inter conceded seven goals, setting a new high in average goals conceded per game. Ranocchia needs to reflect on whether he hasn't fully demonstrated his own advantages or if he has been overrated by the media? Leonardo's words are not without reason; after the winter break, Inter won nine out of ten games, conceding 18 goals in total, averaging 1.8 goals conceded per game. However, Inter's average number of goals scored per game also reached 2.8, so despite frequent defensive lapses, the applause and praise for Leonardo still far outweighed the doubts.
In the 29th minute of the first half, Sorensen crossed the ball, Cordoba at the front point failed to head it away, and Matteo, unmarked, headed the ball into the net, leaving Julio Cesar with no chance to react, making it 1-0, seemingly sealing Juventus' victory with such ease. And this was merely a snapshot of Juventus' offensive display throughout the game; Krasic and Chiellini frequently overlapped down the flanks, while Matteo and Toni in the middle repeatedly threatened the goal with headers. According to data statistics, out of 12 shots on target by Juventus in the entire game, five were headers.
In the final 15 minutes, the 173 cm Cordoba twice outjumped the towering 196 cm Toni, forcing one to admire his resilience despite his age. But expecting a veteran to maintain such performance for an entire game isn't realistic. At the 29th minute, Matteo's header goal came as a result of Cordoba's failure to deal with the ball at the front point, which can be somewhat excused due to the height disadvantage.
On the stage of the Derby d'Italia, such praise finally faded, and Inter once again exposed another fatal flaw in defense: poor air defense! In the technical statistics after the match, Juventus had a higher success rate in headers compared to Inter, 60% to 40%. This was almost the only advantage Juventus had in the technical statistics! This also precisely highlighted the reason for Juventus' victory and indirectly explained Inter's loss: today's air defense was simply too poor!