Criticism is part of the game as much as compliments: Nicolo Barella

Nicolo Barella admits that things weren’t working for him off late but the impressive performance against Salernitana could be a breakthrough. The Inter Milan midfielder had a superb game, registering two assists in his side’s 5-0 thrashing of the bottom-placed side at San Siro on Friday. Lautaro Martinez netted a hat-trick while Edin Dzeko scored a brace to help Inter to the summit of the league standings with 58 points from 27 games. Meanwhile prior to this game, Martinez was also struggling having not scored in 10 games and Inter were winless in their last five games in all competitions.

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⚡️ | BURST!

49 – ?‍♂️ #Barella breaks towards goal but a defender just gets there first ?#InterSalernitana 2⃣-0⃣#FORZAINTER ⚫️? pic.twitter.com/4qYCt0bLRv

— Inter ??? (@Inter_en) March 4, 2022

In 2021, Barella had created 13 chances for Martinez while in 2022 he atmost managed four for Dzeko. “It was a bit of a strange period for me. It wasn’t just my legs that weren’t going at full strength, my ideas weren’t coming, the passes weren’t working out. I hope that I’ve managed to break out of that funk today,” Barella told Sky Sport Italia.

“Criticism is part of the game as much as compliments, the important thing is to help the team, and when I can’t do that, I get irritable and don’t give my best. I hope we’ve found the right path again now, all of us together.”

Inter are just one point above AC Milan and Napoli, who will go head-to-head on Sunday. The Scudetto race is heading into a photo-finish with three teams separated by just one point. Meanwhile fourth-placed Juventus are also finding form at the right time as they are just seven adrift of the leaders and with a game against Inter coming in April, Massimiliano Allegri’s side will be optimistic about challenging for the title. 

“There are strong teams, it’s an open title race and all the sides dropped points along the way. As for Juventus, there’s a bit of a gap, but if we don’t win at the top, then they can still get closer.”

Inter regained confidence ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Liverpool, having lost the first leg 2-0. But Barella won’t be available for the fixture at Anfield and his absence could be a huge blow to Simone Inzaghi’s side.

In the last-16 first leg fixture last week, Liverpool man-marked Marcelo Brozovic pretty well to nullify Inter’s midfield threat. However, Inzaghi’s side tweaked their strategy a little bit on Friday as Brozovic was pushed further back, taking the marker along with him and thereby giving space for Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu to exploit. 

Barella exploited the space very effectively as he provided two assists and was involved in the fifth goal Inter scored. However, in his absence Calhanoglu will have to step up along with Arturo Vidal.

“It is disappointing not to be there, but Arturo Vidal was Man of the Match in the first leg when replacing me, so I am sure he’ll have another great performance.

“This evening’s win is certainly a confidence-booster, but in general playing at Anfield is such a wonderful experience, we shouldn’t feel any fear, only hunger.

“It’s going to take something remarkable to turn it around, but then Inter are ‘crazy’ and anything can happen.”