Sampdoria 0-0 Inter Milan Talking points

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With 16 matches still to be played by every team in the league this season, Inter Milan appear to have lost their last hope of catching up with Napoli in the race for the Serie A title, after failing to beat relegation-threatened Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa on Monday.Inter frustratedWith Romelu Lukaku back from injury and finally fit enough to start, it was interesting to see the big Belgian team up with Lautaro Martinez upfront again  the duo that played a huge part in Inters 2020/21 Scudetto triumph with a total of 41 goals and 20 a  Brian Burns Jersey sists combined. And with the visitors expected to dominate the game against Sampdoria, it was only natural to a sume the outcome Sam Darnold Jersey  would very much depend on their ability to turn that domination into goals.And it certainly proved that way, though not in the way they wouldve hoped it would. With 66% of po se sion, Inter took a total of 25 shots, 19 from open play, but only five on target and obviously none that hit the back of the net.The first chance fell for Lukaku in the second minute of the game, as Nicolo Barella set him up for a one-on-one with Jeison Murillo. The Inter striker did well to fend the Samdpdoria defender off, turn and fire, but goalkeeper Emil Audero stood his ground and saved the shot. Hakan Calhanoglu came close with a 20-yard effort that trickled wide of the post 10 minutes later. In the 19th, a nicely worked move between Lukaku, Calhanoglu and Matteo Darmian set Martinez up for a shot from around 10 yard but the Argentine mishit it, and eventually Darmian just mi Sam Mills Jersey  sed the top corner from the same distance in the same attack.It seemed at that point that it would only be a matter of time before Inter broke the deadlock, but chance after chance went begging with the scoreboard still reading 0-0, and nerves appeared to be creeping in on Simone Inzaghis men. As the final whistle loomed closer, they increased the pre sure again, but Calhanoglu fired straight at Audero in the 77th, and then Edin Dzeko, who had earlier replaced Lukaku, set the Turk up for another ill-fated effort in the 83rd. Defender Francesco Acerbi let one fly from range in the 92nd, and that was about as close as the Nerazzurri came to scoring  P.J. Walker Jersey all game as Audero diverted it onto the cro sbar. In the dying seconds, Federico Dimarco squared the ball to Martinez inside the box, but Martinez me sed the reception up and failed to get a shot off before committing a foul.To sum up, a little more composure wouldve easily won the game for the visitors, but they simply didnt have any and it ended up costing them two points in what will now become a fight to remain in the top four, rather than the title race.What about Sampdoria?As for the home side, there really isn Cam Newton Jersey t too much to be said about their performance. They held out to the final whistle, held out being the operative expre sion here. With the vast difference in quality between the two teams clearly on show, Dejan Stankovics team never really tried to keep hold of the ball and move forward in numbers against his old club. They were content with sitting deep as Tommaso Aguello and Ale sandro Zanoli, the two wing-backs, spent most of the time in line with the back three to turn it into a back five.Midfielders Michael Cuisance and Harry Winks, along with Filip Djuricic, were mostly pushed back towards their own box, and even though Sam Lammers and Manolo Gabbiadini went occasionally in search of a chance at the other end, those were difficult to come by except for Kevin Greene Jersey  a short while early in the second half.Five minutes after the break, the two forwards combined as Lammers sent a low cro s into the box for Gabbiadini, but having beaten Acerbi to the ball, Gabbiadini failed to hit the target from close range. Eight minutes later, the 31-year-old got on the end of a cro s with a glancing header from six yards and mi sed again, and that was about it when it came to Sampdoria trying to cause Inter problems.The standingsThe only winners of this match were obviously Napoli, whose lead at the top of the table now stretches 15 points wide, and the Scudetto, last won for them in 1989/90 by the man whose name their  Tommy Tremble Jersey stadium bears now, Diego Armando Maradona, moves ever closer to returning to the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius.Inter remain second with 44 points, followed by Atalanta, Roma and AC Milan all on 41, and Lazio on 39. Two of these teams will mi s out on Champions League football next season, and at the moment, that race appears the least certain one in the Italian top flight.At the other end, Sampdoria have won what is undoubtedly a huge point against Inter, but its still only one point and they need to start getting results against the rest as soon as po sible. The gap they need to close to survive, the one to Spezia in 17th place, is eight points wide, with Hellas Verona jammed in between. The home match against Bologna, coming up next, is probably a James Morgan Jersey  good place to start.