Rafa Benitez found himself watching two difficult nights for Italian football within the space of 24 hours, as Inter and Roma added to a sequence of four defeats from four matches that left Serie A facing an uncomfortable European reckoning.
Key takeaways
- Italian sides suffered four losses in four games across the run of fixtures in question.
- Benitez described the events around Inter and Roma as two footballing psychodramas arriving within a day.
- Roma were beaten by Real Madrid, a result Benitez considered understandable against such strong opposition.
- The former coach felt Roma had been the better side despite the defeat.
- He said the decisive moments came solely from set-piece situations.
A difficult European picture
The phrase “derrota total”, used in Spain to describe defeat on every front, captured the mood around the Italian results. Four successive losses created the impression not merely of isolated bad evenings, but of a wider collapse involving a football culture suddenly short of answers.
For Benitez, an observer who continues to travel, study and update his ideas, the contrast was striking. In one 24-hour period, he encountered the crises surrounding both Inter and Roma, two clubs whose problems reflected a particularly tense moment for the Italian game.
Roma’s performance beneath the result
Benitez did not treat Roma’s defeat to Real Madrid as a simple indictment. Losing to a side of Real’s stature can happen, he argued, but the manner of the match mattered more than the final score.
“Everything was tied to incidents from dead-ball situations,” Benitez said. “Roma were the superior team.”
That assessment offered a small distinction amid a bleak overall picture: the result deepened the run of defeats, yet Roma’s display suggested that the gap had not been as comprehensive as the scoreboard might imply. In a period when Italian clubs were absorbing heavy collective pressure, those details carried particular weight.
