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If at the start of the season someone had predicted Cristian Chivu would dominate Serie A in his first experience with a big club, it would have drawn more than a few laughs. But not from those at the top of Inter, who saw something in him that others had yet to notice.
The spark between the two parties was reignited in the summer, after he had a brief but successful spell at Parma, leading them to 16th place, restoring both dignity and hope for the future.
It was a short stint, but enough to show Marotta and the Inter management the quality of the coach and the man. That was all it took to bring him back to Appiano Gentile, his home from 2017 to 2024, where he had shaped generations of young players, coaching the under-14s, U17s, U18s, and Primavera.
He built his career step by step, brick by brick, wearing the same shirt he had donned as a player for seven years. It’s a circle that closes and opens again, because his debut among the “big boys” couldn’t have been brighter: a sensational season, exponential growth, and an impact that surprised even those who knew him well.
Bouncing back
From the very first matches, even during the Club World Cup, the Romanian’s influence was clear. Despite the heavy legacy left by Simone Inzaghi and that 5-0 defeat in the Champions League final to PSG, which could have left deep scars, Chivu immediately understood that the first area to address wasn’t tactics but mentality.
He restored calm, brought a wounded group back together, and convinced a squad used to winning to trust a young coach in his first real spotlight. Mission accomplished. And not only that: Chivu transformed Inter, making them more fluid, more unpredictable, and freer to express themselves.
Dimarco and Zielinski deliver
One of the coach’s masterpieces has been Federico Dimarco. From averaging 60 minutes per game under Inzaghi, he became a near-permanent 90-minute starter, always sharp, always focused, always decisive.
The result? He finished as the league’s top assist provider and the main attacking threat in all of Serie A. A mental transformation even before a physical one.
But Chivu’s work touched every area of the team. In attack, Lautaro Martinez remained the focal point despite some physical setbacks, and injuries never really affected the team’s performance.
Credit goes to quality replacements, with a surprising Pio Esposito, a consistently valuable Ange-Yoan Bonny, and a Marcus Thuram who was inconsistent but deadly in key moments, like in the 4-3 win at Como that marked the turning point of the season.
And then there’s Piotr Zielinski: a mystery under Inzaghi, a pure diamond with Chivu. Used all over the midfield, he brought tempo, quality, goals, assists, and an ability to keep Inter’s engine running with a natural ease that no one had ever seen from him in Italy.
A title with his signature
Inter’s Serie A triumph, in short, has Chivu’s name written all over it. No need to sugarcoat it. He built the team’s mentality in July, shaped them tactically between August and September, and guided them on a human level once the machine started running on its own.
Then, a few tweaks here and there, some surgical adjustments, and the ability to never lose top spot once it was theirs. Perhaps experience was lacking in the Champions League, where the play-off elimination still stings.
But that’s just a detail in the bigger picture of a season that feels like the beginning of something much greater.
Because if this is only the first chapter in the story between Chivu and Inter, it’s only natural to wonder how far the rest of the journey can go.