Inter’s victory over Napoli had the feel of a title race classic, while Juventus and Milan exposed familiar shortcomings despite their summer spending

Already as the words were being spoken, Cristian Chivu started to bristle. “Scontri diretti” translates to “head-to-head clashes”. The term is commonly deployed in a football context as a shorthand for those high-stakes games between teams who are expected to finish close together in the table – much like “six-pointers” in the English game.

Chivu’s Inter finished 11 points clear atop Serie A last season, his first as their head coach, but caught criticism along the way for an early Champions League exit and underperformance in some scontri diretti. Inter lost four out of six games against Napoli, Milan and Juventus. Their only win, at home to the Bianconeri, came after Alessandro Bastoni deceived a referee to get Pierre Kalulu sent off.