Tardelli: ‘Calhanoglu at Inter like Pirlo with Ancelotti’

Italy World Cup winner Marco Tardelli compares Simone Inzaghi’s revitalisation of Hakan Calhanoglu to the way Carlo Ancelotti transformed Andrea Pirlo. ‘It’s the football I love.’

The Turkey international had struggled to make a consistent impact at Milan in the trequartista role behind the strikers and initially had the same position when crossing the city to join their rivals Inter.

However, when Marcelo Brozovic was injured, Inzaghi tested out Calhanoglu as a deep-lying midfielder and never looked back, giving him a totally new lease of life.

“This idea feels similar to the one Ancelotti had when moving Pirlo in front of the defence: not to protect the defence with physical strength, but with technique and creativity,” 1982 World Cup winner Tardelli told La Stampa newspaper.

“Inzaghi did the same with Calhanoglu. In the win over Juventus, I saw in the Turkish midfielder the kind of football that I love, made of moves that are increasingly rare in this day and age.

“Calhanoglu makes the extraordinary look normal, just like Francesco Totti, Franco Causio, Roberto Baggio, Gianni Rivera, etc.

“All players of a high level who made you see their enormous quality in every game and nobody was even surprised anymore.”