The commentator, his voice buzzing with the thrill of the tactical masterclass, was having the time of his life.
"THE GOAL MAY NOT STAND, BUT THE MESSAGE HAS BEEN DELIVERED!" he roared. "Inter Milan have the key! Leon, the master locksmith, has picked the lock of the Torino fortress, and now his teammates are pouring through the breach! The Triangle is in tatters!"
The next twenty minutes were a beautiful, brutal demonstration of Inter's new plan.
It was the same move, over and over, but executed with such speed and precision that Torino was powerless to stop it. Leon would drift deep, a phantom in the midfield.
A Torino defender, usually the captain Buongiorno, would follow him, his face a mask of grim determination. And the moment he did, the trap was sprung.
Lautaro and Palmer would make searing, diagonal runs into the vacated space.
The passes from Inter's midfield, primarily from the visionary Hakan Çalhanoğlu, were sublime.
