Thuram and Barella: ‘Inter love playing together, difficult spell taught us a lot’

Marcus Thuram and Nicolò Barella assure ending the season empty-handed ‘taught Inter a lot’ and their friendship is helping them march towards the Scudetto now.

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The Nerazzurri were a little sluggish in the first half and struggled to break Cagliari down, but ran riot after the break when stepping up a gear.

The deadlock was broken when Federico Dimarco rolled across his 16^th assist of the season for Thuram to tap in, then Barella blasted in the loose ball moments later.

Piotr Zielinski sealed it in style during added time by rifling a scorcher into the top corner for 3-0.

Inter can taste the Scudetto now

Thuram really has found his form at the right time after a difficult period, as he can’t seem to stop scoring at the moment with four goals and two assists in the last three games.

“Nothing has changed really, these are moments, I am in a good moment now, and that’s good for Inter,” Thuram told Sky Sport Italia.

“It’s not done yet, we’ve got to keep pushing and picking up points. We are a squad who like to play together and hanging out together, and you can see that when we’re on the pitch too.”

Barella did not want to celebrate scoring a goal against his hometown club, but Thuram forced a smile when giving the midfielder a piggy-back ride.

Inter went into this weekend with a nine-point lead at the top of the Serie A table, and it will at the very least remain intact going into the final five rounds.

It’s no wonder the fans at San Siro unleashed the traditional chant of ‘we will win the tricolor’ at the final whistle.

“I hope we’ll win the tricolor!” replied Barella.

“It’s pleasing, last season was difficult and taught us a lot, but now we really need to win. Seeing this atmosphere recreated with our determination, commitment and hard work, it’s marvellous.”

This side is marching away with the Scudetto, because only four times in their history had Inter won 25 of the opening 33 Serie A rounds, in 2023-24, 2006-07 and 1988-89.

“Statistics only mean so much, because the important thing is to give everything you’ve got on the field. I also want to compliment Pepu Martinez for his performance, it was not easy for him after what happened, we tried to be by his side, so he deserves this moment.”

Goalkeeper Martinez received a rare start today, but his season was affected by a tragic accident when an elderly man fell ill at the wheel and veered into his car.