Article by Daniel Scorpie – Published Monday, 02 February 2026, 11:06 / Updated on Monday, 02 February 2026 11:06
Chivu write history at Inter. Even if there are many who keep track of his failures with the big names, in Serie A and in the Champions League, the Romanian, who returned to the team from Giuseppe Meazza (with only 13 games in his CV after the short adventure at Parma), is the Nerazzurro coach with the best first season this century. Over Inzaghi, Conte, Spalletti, Mancini and Mourinho!
The number in the title, 55, represents the points accumulated by Chivu's Inter in 23 stages of this Serie A season. We have passed 60% of the championship and the clear victory in the city of Stradivarius, which continues the perfect music of the concert with small teams, is the 18th. That is, over 78 percent of the championship meant success for Inter!
Of these, ten have been sealed by the Nerazzurri in their last 11 games (since the undeserved 0-1 in the Derby della Madonnina), the only misstep coming against champions Napoli.
Beyond the joining of the two identical figures, 55 may mean keeping the lead over Napoli (nine points) and possibly also distancing themselves from Milan (+8 now), who visit Bologna tomorrow. But mostly the record for a debutant coach at Inter. At least in this century!
Jose Mourinho, Roberto Mancini, Luciano Spalletti, Antonio Conte and Simone Inzaghi, listed in chronological order Inter's representative technicians with at least two years in office, failed to reach the top milestone reached by Cristi Chivu after the first 23 stages in their first season on the Nerazzurri bench.
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In the 2019-2020 season, Antonio Conte he had arrived with Inter at 54 of points;
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In the 2021-2022 season, Simone Inzaghi had accumulated at Inter 53 of points;
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In the 2008-2009 season, Jose Mourinho had accumulated at Inter 53 of points;
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In the 2017-2018 season, Luciano Spalletti obtained at Inter 45 of points;
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In the 2014-2015 season, Roberto Mancini he only had at Inter 39 of points.
For 14 years, no coach has won the title in the first season!
I also didn't mention the Argentine Hector Cuper, with his 46 points in the 2001-02 edition, because there are already enough names to compare Chivu's performance with.
Romanian coach Cristi Chivu (45 years old), Inter's technician, will carry the Olympic flame for this year's Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
There are less than four months left until the end of the championship and, having reached exactly 50 games as a senior technician (he has 29 victories), last year's coach from Gazeta Sporturilor's investigation is really the big favorite to win lo scudetto. It would be the fourth since 2003, since he started his adventure in Italian football.
1.25is the average odds given by bookmakers for Inter to win the title. Milan are next, with odds between 7 and 8, while champions Napoli are between 15 and 17
If we focus our perspective on the last 20 years, only Simone Inzaghi's Inter in the 2023-24 season, the one in which they won lo scudetto, had better results after 23 stages, with 60 points. Since Antonio Conte 14 years ago at Juventus, no one has won the title in their debut season in Serie A, a feat also achieved by Capello, Lippi and Ancelotti.
4 points above Inzaghi's last season after 23 rounds
And to stay with Inzaghi, Inter were 51st a year ago, four points behind Chivu's side, and, just like at the start of February, they played in the 25th round with Juventus. With the difference that, this season, the Nerazzurri will be the hosts in the derby, which Simone then lost 0-1.
Normally, Inter will advance a Champions League round to the “eighties” (Bodo/Glimt could only scare them away with the frost) and will be in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, facing Torino at the Meazza on Wednesday.
Chivu should come into the spring competing on all fronts. He has the advantage that in the championship he plays at home with all the rivals at the top, Juventus, Milan (it doesn't matter that the hosts are the Rossoneri) and Roma. Plus, not to be neglected, Inter didn't leave any chance to opponents from 10th place down – 12 wins out of 12 possible -, 12 being the total number of successes to zero in the championship.
Dortmund's success, in front of the 'Yellow Wall', where Barcelona, PSG, Chelsea and Atletico fell and where Borussia had until last Wednesday only lost once in their last 21 games, shows that Inter can turn the wheel and recover from the big team complex though.
By the time he celebrates the year since his debut as a coach in Serie A, before the return from the League play-offs, Chivu will tick off five more matches. And, no matter how much he is criticized and no matter how smart and aesthetes turn their noses at football, his merits cannot be disputed.
