Metropolitano, Inter Milan's Biggest Enigma

MADRID, THURSDAY — Inter Milan's perfection in Europe has reached its final stop. The "Nerazzuri" have once again failed to unravel their greatest enigma, which is conquering the Metropolitano Stadium, home of Atletico Madrid. Inter has gone 12 matches without a victory at this stadium, including a defeat of 1-2 on Thursday (27/11/2025) early morning WIB.

"I think we played well, it is not easy to play in this stadium with fans like that. Football is not always fair, we have to keep working hard and then life goes on," said Inter defender, Yan Bisseck, after the match.

Before the match, Inter Coach Cristian Chivu passionately expressed his ambition to end his team's misfortunes every time they visit Atletico's home ground. Despite recently suffering a defeat in the Derbi della Madonnina against city rivals AC Milan, Inter's perfection in Europe is the main reason for Chivu's optimism. In four matches of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Inter has always won, scoring 11 goals and conceding only once.

However, Inter's positive trend means nothing at the Metropolitano. No matter how many prestigious trophies Inter wins or how impressive their performance is, the Metropolitano always remains a hell.

The suffering was even experienced by Inter when the match had just entered the ninth minute. Julian Alvarez made tens of thousands of Atletico fans cheer with his close-range goal, taking advantage of the negligence of Inter's defensive line.

Chivu implemented a basic formation of 3-5-2 that transformed into 5-3-2 when defending (out of possession). Meanwhile, when in possession of the ball or building an attack from the back, Chivu instructed his players to form a pattern of 4-2-3-1, with Hakan Calhanoglu and Nicolo Barella partnering in the defensive midfield positions.

The ambition to end the curse at the Metropolitano, coupled with being one goal down from the start of the match, drove Calhanoglu and his teammates to increase the intensity of their attacks. This effort successfully pressured Atletico, which ultimately focused more on strengthening their defense.

However, Inter's approach in building their attack emphasized efforts to strengthen ball possession. This strategy was recognized by Atletico, who promptly implemented individual marking.

As a result, the Inter players struggled to advance the ball forward. The ball was indeed more frequently circulated in Atletico's playing area. However, there were rarely any progressive passes from Calhanoglu or other Inter players.

This was the cause of Inter's low expected goals (xG) value despite dominating the match in the first half. With 57 percent possession, Inter could only manage three shots on target with an xG value of just 0.37. Inter was less efficient than Atletico, which recorded an xG value of 0.29 but was able to score one goal.

"We have a plan to try to contain them. In the first half, we thought we could make it difficult for them through counterattacks. However, they had significant opportunities to score. We defended quite well," said Atletico Coach Diego Simeone in an interview with Prime Video after the match.

Being aware that ball possession alone would not lead his team to conquer Metropolitano, Chivu changed his approach in the second half. He continued to ask his players to control the match through ball possession. However, as they approached the final third, the Inter players were urged to be bolder in taking risks by making progressive passes.

The effort bore golden opportunities for Barella at the beginning of the second half. Instead of taking more time to circulate the ball while looking for gaps, Inter opted to deliver a pass directly into the penalty area of Atletico. Barella's opportunity arose from such a scheme, which unfortunately still hit the crossbar of Juan Musso's goal.

Through a bolder risk-taking approach, Inter was able to equalize through Piotr Zielinski in the 54th minute. The goal from the Polish national team player originated from a combination of short passes with Ange-Yoan Bonny in the Atletico penalty area, concluded with a low shot.

Let alone winning, even securing a draw at the Metropolitano is already quite difficult for Inter. After Zielinski's goal, Atletico became increasingly aggressive in trying to regain the lead. However, the discipline of Inter's defense line, commanded by Manuel Akanji, thwarted Atletico's relentless attacks.

The long-awaited goal by Atletico supporters finally came during extra time. Antoine Griezmann, through a corner kick execution, orchestrated the winning goal for Atletico, scored by captain Jose Maria Gimenez with a header.

With only a few seconds remaining, it was very difficult for Inter to achieve a miracle. Indeed, the Metropolitano remained untouched and seemed to be an eternal enigma for Inter.

"This is disappointing. Losing like this in the last minute is truly unpleasant. We were close to securing a draw, but this defeat has left us feeling disappointed," Zielinski stated as quoted by Sky Sport.

This defeat caused Inter to drop from third to fourth place in the temporary league phase standings. Inter has the same number of points, 12, as Bayern Munich in third place. However, Munich, which lost 1-3 to Arsenal in another match, is entitled to occupy the third position due to superior productivity over Inter, having scored 15 goals in five matches. (REUTERS)