Inter: Major Concerns Over Cristian Chivu; Fans Are Divided on the Star’s Future

Inter’s debut in the new Champions League season was decidedly bitter: the Nerazzurri, who put up a courageous fight against the giants of Real Madrid, left the Santiago Bernabéu with a 2-1 loss. Both goals conceded by Cristian Chivu’s team resulted from simple mistakes and were entirely avoidable.

Real Madrid’s first goal came from a mistake by Curtis Jones and Yann Bisseck: the midfielder mishandled the ball, and the German failed to clear it before Kylian Mbappé arrived to beat Josep Martínez. The Spanish goalkeeper, however, was responsible for Real Madrid’s second goal: after receiving a back pass from Benjamin Pavard, the former Genoa player tried to dribble past Federico Valverde but tripped over the ball, and the Uruguayan took full advantage with ease.

Martínez subsequently made some great saves (especially two against Jude Bellingham), but a debate has erupted on social media regarding whether he should start. Many Inter fans are wondering if it wouldn’t be better to give more playing time to Ivan Provedel, who arrived this summer from Lazio for 3 million euros, and some are questioning whether it would have been better to invest more money in the transfer market to sign a top-tier goalkeeper who could immediately take the starting spot.

In fact, Inter’s initial choice seemed to have been Guglielmo Vicario, coming off a lackluster season with Tottenham but still a valuable player; however, the Nerazzurri management then decided to allocate the budget provided by Oaktree elsewhere, choosing instead to bet everything on Martinez.

Now Cristian Chivu will have to resolve a major dilemma and decide whether to stick with the Spanish goalkeeper or opt for Ivan Provedel as early as Monday night’s match against Udinese.