VERONA – Inter slipped to a 2-0 defeat away against Chievo Verona in the opening game of 2016/17, the club's 108th season in the Italian top flight.
Coming up against one of Serie A's notoriously tricky opponents, the Nerazzurri couldn't hand new coach Frank de Boer victory on his league debut as Rolando Maran's Chievo took all the points thanks to a second-half brace from Valter Birsa.
De Boer opted to line his players up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mauro Icardi up top on his own; Eder, Ever Banega and Antonio Candreva behind him; Gary Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia in the middle protecting a back four of Danilo D'Ambrosio, Joao Miranda, Andrea Ranocchia and Yuto Nagatomo.
There were alarm bells early on for Inter as Ranocchia lost the ball on the edge of his own area, forcing the Italian defender into a last-ditch tackle on Riccardo Meggiorini that the referee deemed just about legal.
The Nerazzurri's best chances in the first half came within the space of a few seconds of each other. In the 16th minute, Chievo Verona goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino showed sharp reflexes to get down to a low drive from Eder, turning it around his post. From the corner that followed, both Icardi and Ranocchia had bites at the cherry but neither could convert.
From a tactical point of view, De Boer's men were looking flexible with the defenders often shifting to three at the back, Nagatomo and Candreva coming into defensive midfield, Banega operating centrally with the other midfielders and Eder and Icardi working as a pair in attack.
The first half was an even contest as both sides struggled to exert any lasting dominance. That all changed shortly at the beginning of the second 45, however, as Chievo got themselves into the lead four minutes after the restart. Birsa surged down the right before looking to set Roberto Inglese up. The young striker instead chose to return the favour, leaving Birsa to neatly finish past Samir Handanovic.
A raft of changes saw Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic and Rodrigo Palacio all come on, but the Nerazzurri couldn't find the equaliser despite coming close on a number of occasions.
Birsa sealed a Gialloblu victory in the 79th minute with a fine finish from outside the area that left Handanovic helpless.
The Nerazzurri thus begin Serie A 2016/17 on a poor note and will have to get immediately back to work in order to put things right ahead of Palermo's visit to San Siro on Sunday 28 August.
Chievo 2-0 Inter (HT 0-0)
Scorers: Birsa 49, 79.
CHIEVO: 70 Sorrentino; 29 Cacciatore, 3 Dainelli, 12 Cesar, 18 Gobbi; 19 Castro (4 Rigoni, 61), 8 Radovanovic, 56 Hetemaj; 23 Birsa (27 Parigini, 85); 45 Inglese, 69 Meggiorini (31 Pellissier, 76).
Subs not used: 90 Seculin, 32 Bressan, 2 Spolli, 5 Gamberini, 20 Sardo, 21 Frey, 27 Parigini, 36 Costa, 95 Jallow, 97 De Paoli.
Coach: Rolando Maran.
INTER: 1 Handanovic; 33 D'Ambrosio, 25 Miranda, 13 Ranocchia, 55 Nagatomo; 17 Medel, 7 Kondogbia; 87 Candreva (44 Perisic, 60), 19 Banega (77 Brozovic, 70), 23 Eder (8 Palacio, 75); 9 Icardi.
Subs not used: 30 Carrizo, 46 Berni, 5 Melo, 10 Jovetic, 11 Biabiany, 18 Erkin, 21 Santon, 27 Gnoukouri, 94 Yao.
Coach: Frank de Boer.
Yellow cards: D'Ambrosio 29, Meggiorini 73, Medel 78, Radovanovic 78, Brozovic 79, Kondogbia 87.
Added time: 1+4 minutes.
Referee: Massimiliano Irrati.
Assistants: Lorenzo Manganelli, Valerio Pegorin.
Fourth official: Omar Gava.
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