Perisic Spearheading Resurgent Inter's Charge for Europe

‘SprINTER’ was La Gazzetta dello Sport’s front-page headline on Sunday morning. After making a stumbling start to 2016, the Nerazzurri are beginning to pick up the pace again. The weekend’s win against Bologna was their fourth in a row at San Siro. Inter haven’t been able to put a run like that together in front of their own fans for nigh-on four years. Personifying their sudden acceleration is Ivan Perisic. No one covers more ground for Inter. The Croatia international races up and down the flanks. He never tires.  

It’s worth remembering how Inter pulled out all the stops to sign him in the summer. Roberto Mancini gave the impression that he absolutely had to have him. Inter made Perisic wait. They had to sell in order to a buy. It was one of the longest running transfer sagas. As such what it did was create a heightened sense of anticipation around him. “I’m crazy for Perisic,” Marcello Lippi told the pink. Of all their new signings, he was the one he rated highest and it’s not difficult to see why.  

Perisic had impressed on Italian soil the previous season. He scored for Croatia at San Siro. Italy found it hard to live with his change of pace. He also caught the eye for Wolfsburg against Napoli in the Europa League. It was from his cross that Nikolas Bendtner got a consolation goal at the Volkswagen Arena and while the tie was already dead after a heavy defeat in the first leg, Perisic did at least score a face-saving equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the San Paolo.  

He brought title winning experience in Germany with Jürgen Klopp’s Dortmund and had helped Wolfsburg to a runners’ up finish behind Pep’s Bayern and a German Cup in his final season. “I left because I understood it had become impossible to challenge Bayern,” particularly after the exit of Kevin de Bruyne. He was coming to Inter because he believed it would be different in Serie A. Perisic must have thought that he could help deliver Inter their first Scudetto since 2010. As such big things were expected.  

Flash forward to the Derby d’Italia on February 28 and it didn’t go unnoticed that Perisic, Adem Ljajic, Stevan Jovetic and Éder - all players bought to satisfy Mancini and improve the starting XI - were on the bench. Something didn’t add up. As the only player among those recruits to have never played in Italy before, Perisic understandably needed time to adapt. It presumably didn’t help that Mancini, even without Europe as an excuse, shuffled his pack every week. The system changed, depending on the opponent. The personnel, too.

Perisic’s versatility was also his own worst enemy. “Until I was 14, I was a classic centre-forward,” he explains. “Then until I was 20 I was a No.10. When my coach at Brugge noticed I was ambidextrous he moved me out wide. I scored 22 goals in that position and was top scorer in Belgium.” His favourite position, however, is on the left wing. Wolfsburg predominantly used him there, but his first appearances with Inter were behind the striker in a diamond and as a right wing-back in a 3-5-2 then pushed up on that side in a 4-3-3.  

He was pulled this way and that and didn’t understand whether he was coming or going. When the composition of the team and its alignment continues to jumble it can cause confusion. Striking up any chemistry with your teammates and learning their runs is difficult when one minute they’re in the team, the next they’re out or deployed in a different position.  

But after six months, we’re finally beginning to see what Perisic is really capable of on a consistent basis. Mancini has restored him to his preferred role and - surprise surprise - he has been rewarded. Perisic was devastating in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final when Inter improbably came back from a 3-0 aggregate deficit to win 3-0 on the night, take the tie to extra-time only to then lose on penalties. Persic scored, set up another for Marcelo Brozovic and won a penalty too. 

He has now found the back of the net in each of his last three appearances and is increasingly one of the first names on the team sheet. Inter have never lost on the seven occasions Perisic has got his name up in lights on the scoreboard. All except one has come in the six-yard box. His late runs to the far post have become something of a trademark of Inter’s attacking play. They’re very difficult to pick up.  

The latest on Saturday was a header from a corner played in by his compatriot Brozovic. No team in Serie A has scored more goals (7) from these situations than Inter this season. Their tentative resurgence has rekindled hopes of a finish in the Champions League places. The issue for Inter, however, is that as they fell away, Roma came together again and haven’t stopped, winning eight straight games under Luciano Spalletti. They meet at the Olimpico on Saturday night in what promises to be a cracking game.  

Inter shocked Roma and knocked them off the top when they last met with a backs-against-the-wall 1-0 win at San Siro. This weekend, they’ll be without top scorer Mauro Icardi, Stevan Jovetic and the suspended Rodrigo Palacio. If they are to win and go within two points of Roma, Perisic will have to continue delivering. It promises to be a decisive evening. Wednesday’s Gazzetta claims that if Inter miss out on the Champions League, Perisic could be someone they look to cash in on. It makes Saturday huge both for Inter’s future and perhaps his own as well.

Has Perisic begun to prove his worth for Inter this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below