Cristian Chivu expressed his pleasure that Inter are “enjoying their football” following a dominant 3-0 win against Cagliari. While the Scudetto is within reach, Chivu remained reserved about celebrating the title just yet, stating, “Thank God we achieved Champions League qualification.”
The Nerazzurri are nearing Scudetto glory after a hard-fought 3-0 victory at San Siro. The breakthrough came in the 53rd minute with Marcus Thuram converting a Federico Dimarco assist, followed shortly by a powerful strike from Nicolò Barella. Piotr Zielinski sealed the win in stoppage time with a spectacular shot.
Last week, Chivu had subtly aimed at rivals by stating their main objective was securing a Champions League spot. With Como’s defeat today, this goal is now mathematically guaranteed.
“I was being ironic last week, but not joking, so we’re very happy,” Chivu shared with Sky Sport Italia. “We were aware of how important this match was. We had some difficulties in the first half; our play was too slow, which allowed Cagliari to close down spaces effectively. After the break, we spread them out more, pushed our forwards higher, and increased our intensity.”
“When this team breaks the deadlock, they start to enjoy their football and pursue more ambitious plays. This is a team with quality, they are great players, and they enjoy themselves on the pitch.”
When asked if he could see belief in his players’ eyes in the locker room, Chivu offered a candid and slightly sarcastic response. “I don’t see their eyes often, as they are always looking down at their phones. I call this the one-hand generation; they always have a phone in one hand, and they do other things with the other…”
“We are aware of the hard work we’ve put in, of what we did to become competitive, and thank God we have now achieved our objective of Champions League qualification with five games remaining. Now we can look forward and strive to be competitive until the end.”
This victory temporarily puts Inter 12 points clear at the top of the league, awaiting the results of Napoli and Milan’s weekend fixtures. They entered this round with a nine-point lead, and it is confirmed that this advantage will remain at least intact heading into the final five rounds.
Inter’s next focus is the Coppa Italia semi-final against Como on Tuesday evening. The first leg ended in a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Sinigaglia, leaving everything to play for in the return leg.
Despite facing considerable criticism this season, Chivu is on track to potentially end the campaign with two trophies.
“There are human elements too; we mustn’t forget how tough last season was for these lads, but they challenged themselves, didn’t back down, and always reacted during the ups and downs of the season. They have built something here over the last few years and were determined to maintain the good things that had been put in place.”
Regarding Inter’s potential to step up next season and compete in the Champions League as well as Serie A, Chivu commented, “It’s not easy, as you face teams of a certain caliber, especially the Premier League sides that spend an incredible amount of money to keep reinforcing. We have a thousand examples of teams that spent so much and still discovered it’s no guarantee of Champions League success. We want to be competitive; one of the objectives of all clubs is to qualify for the Champions League, so it’s not a joke really, because everyone wants to participate in that tournament.”
Inter President Beppe Marotta had indicated before the match that a new contract for Chivu would not be an issue. “I never discussed this with them, as I was focused on achieving Champions League qualification. Is it achieved? No, not really. I’m not superstitious; I just prefer to focus my energy on football and not my future,” the coach responded.