Inter downplayed the “rumours” in a statement as “perfectly normal dressing room situations” that “have been blown out of proportion.” Roberto Mancini tweeted “people shouldn’t be making up alleged or rumoured splits or fallings out within the team.” Stevan Jovetic insisted “nothing at all went on… it’s much ado about nothing… really nothing happened.” 

If anything actually did, the Milan-based newspaper Libero concluded that Inter should be furious not with the players involved, but whoever leaked the story to gazzetta.it. If you missed it, here’s how they allege it went. 

Inter are leaving Appiano Gentile. Direction San Siro for their final game of the year against Lazio. Mancini reveals his starting XI. Adem Ljajic, the star of the team in the last month, is left out and sulks. Only at the last minute does he get changed and go and warm up. Watching his players prepare for kick off, Mancini picks up a vibe he doesn’t like. The players aren’t as concentrated as usual. Everything is a little too casual. Maybe the three Christmas parties they had attended in the week - one for the first team, one for the sponsors and another for the academy - has taken the edge off a bit.  

The air they give off is complacent. Do they think the result will take care of itself? Inter are top of the table and about to play a Lazio team that hasn’t won in the league since October. Within five minutes they’re a goal down and go in at half-time behind. During the interval Mancini announces that he would make five or six substitutions if he could. Jovetic is singled out as one of them but is sent out for the second half anyway only to be replaced by Ljajic before the hour mark. Inter get back into the game through Mauro Icardi. They’re in control. Then Felipe Melo loses his head. He gives away a penalty which Antonio Candreva scores on the rebound and to make matters worse gets sent off for attempting to take off Lucas Biglia’s. 

As the players return to the dressing room at full time, gazzetta.it claim a bust up ensues. Jovetic and Mancini have a difference of opinion about his performance and substitution. Ljajic sticks up for his teammate. Fredy Guarin intervenes and warns them not to disrespect the coach. Icardi meanwhile lets Melo know how much he let the team down. It was like a “saloon,” Il Giornale surmised. Jovetic, Melo and Ljajic were supposedly fined. Mancini again has issued a denial. 

This isn’t the first bump in the road this season. Friction has been reported between Mancini and Jovetic before. Back in October, the coach wasn’t said to be overjoyed at the player reporting for international duty with Montenegro despite missing games against Fiorentina and Samp through injury. Other spine or thorns that have snagged but not stopped Inter include Icardi dismissing criticism of his own form after scoring the match winner in Bologna later that month by turning it on the team instead. 

“When I get the ball I can score goals,” he told Sky Italia. “In 10 games I’ve got the ball four times and scored three goals. That doesn’t seem like a bad ratio to me.” Icardi sat the next game out against Roma and Mancini insisted it was tactical amid questions about his captain being dropped. 

“Is Paradise Lost?” asked Il Corriere della Sera after the Lazio loss. Had Inter’s better than expected results papered over cracks? Much can be read into these incidents. Too much perhaps and although it is a genuinely big story not least because it was broken by Italy’s biggest sports paper, some of the focus can also be explained by there being 10 days between the end of the year’s games and the beginning of the transfer window. 

After all, it’s easier to find examples of Inter’s great team spirit and unity of intent than it is discord: for instance the many team photos taken in the dressing room and shared on Instagram after precious wins, the #EpicBrozo selfies and flouring of Mancini at Appiano Gentile on his birthday. 

That’s not to say there are no issues to resolve. Ljajic was probably justified in feeling he should have started after combining for four goals in his previous four starts. As for Jovetic, he has started and finished only one game this season and with Inter not playing in Europe you can understand a pair of competitive athletes believing they should be in the team from kick off to final whistle, week-in, week-out. For all the praise Mancini has received for using his entire squad - he has named 17 different starting XIs and fielded 24 different players, fostering camaraderie and making everyone feel involved - this is the flip side: with such a big squad, it’s a challenge to keep everybody happy all of the time. 

Mancini also got his team selection wrong against Lazio. As Zvone Boban mused on Sky Calcio Show how did he think Inter were going to build the play with Gary Medel and Melo in the middle. How compatible Jovetic and Icardi really are is also a conundrum he’s got to figure out. At the moment it’s like getting Pandas to mate. Consult the statistics and you’ll see that a pass from the Montenegrin has been followed by a shot from the Argentine just once this season. Although Inter are beginning to score more freely - they have scored 14 in their last six games - an improvement in the understanding between one of their major summer signings and last season’s Capocannoniere could yet see them go to another level. 

Now if you’ll allow me for a moment to return to the alleged dressing room bust up, there isn’t necessarily a contradiction with the general impression of Inter as a happy camp. Much like when Juventus lost to Sassuolo, is it really any surprise that tempers flared after the defeat to Lazio? It was a golden opportunity to go into the winter break with some breathing space between them and the immediate chasing pack, all of whom won, and Inter blew it. Lazio didn’t win that game. Inter lost it and the awareness of that must be frustrating. It will surely serve as a useful lesson not to let it happen again from now until the end of the season. 

And besides, even if there are cracks in the dressing room it doesn’t necessarily compromise Inter’s title chances. Lazio’s players used to get changed in separate dressing rooms in 1974. Every game in training was a settling of scores between rival factions and yet they still managed to put their differences aside to win the Scudetto. By contrast, this feels like a storm in a teacup. 

Inter are still top of the table. They’re the most improved team in the league and what’ll be interesting now is how they respond. A winter trip to Dubai took a toll on Milan a year ago. Will it take one on their cugini also? Inter haven’t won their first game of a New Year in four years and Empoli await them at the Castellani on Wednesday. Their opponents have won four games in a row. It’s a trap game. Inter need to stay together. They need to show the mentality that has got them this far. They need to move on as quickly as possible. Because their rivals won’t wait for them.