It felt like an end, not a beginning. Internazionale had just gone 2-0 down at home to Torino with half an hour to play and, as the camera panned to the touchline, Antonio Conte bore the expression of a man who had accepted an invitation to dinner only to discover that the menu would be entirely vegan. His side had won three of their opening seven games of the 2020-21 season and were eighth in Serie A. The prospect of mounting any sort of challenge for the scudetto seemed laughably remote.
At which point, something stirring and strange happened. Alexis Sánchez pulled one back after a goalmouth scramble. Romelu Lukaku bundled in a scruffy equaliser and then converted a contentious penalty with six minutes remaining.
