If Charles Dickens had written a novel about Serie A, one imagines the ghost of Scudetto future visiting Juventus to show them what would happen if they didn’t change their ways. From a gaping sleeve, a withered and bony finger points them towards a headstone, which once scrubbed of the frost reveals an epitaph that reads: Here lies the Old Lady. Champions May 7, 2012 to October 18, 2015, the day of the 165th Derby d’Italia. 

Inter were second at the time. Juventus 12th. Eight points separated them. “Anyone who went to San Siro that night expecting our funeral was disappointed,” Gigi Buffon reflected. The game finished 0-0. “It was interpreted, erroneously in my opinion, as a good result for Inter and the teams ahead of us,” the Juventus captain added. “In truth, if we had lost that day it would have been a death knell from a psychological point of view.” 

Instead Juventus were alive and kicking. Flash forward to Sunday and Interisti could be forgiven for thinking that their world had been flipped upside down. An 18-point swing had turned the tables dramatically. Juventus were top. Inter down in fifth and Leonardo Bonucci was telling Sky Italia how “we’ve got to bury them.” 

It would be wrong to say Inter scared easily. They were actually quite daring from kick off, pressing their Turin hosts very high up the pitch. But Juventus could also have been 3-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes. Hernanes almost came back to haunt them. The finger tips of Samir Handanovic pushed his former teammate’s effort onto the bar. 

Mario Mandzukic could have opened Juventus’ account early too. He pounced on mistakes by Jeison Murillo. Luckily for Inter and their Colombian, for whom 2016 remains an annus horribilis, he went unpunished. Inter had chosen to mirror Juventus and play 3-5-2. The trouble with this tactic is straightforward enough: if the system is the same and the match ups make the difference, the team with the better players will likely win. Copying your opponent leaves you open to criticism that you don’t have any original ideas of your own too. There is never any element of surprise with Inter. Changing the formation and the starting XI every week has left this team without an identity. Inter don’t have any continuity.

They stayed in the game for a half but without creating anything other than one gilt-edged chance Rodrigo Palacio served up for Mauro Icardi. Turning Paul Pogba and lofting an angled pass behind Andrea Barzagli, his compatriot should have done better. Icardi has averaged a goal every nine touches in the area this season and has scored six goals in six games against Juventus. But the 23-year-old was so isolated in this game as to be completely out of it and looked genuinely surprised when one of his teammates managed to find him. A golden opportunity went begging and Inter didn’t muster a single shot on target until the 89th minute. 

As Éder has discovered signing a striker rather than a ball-playing midfielder in January was to mistreat the problem that is afflicting Inter. Brought on for the final five minutes last night, he has yet to score in six appearances for his new club. It’s not his fault. The service just isn’t there. He joined Inter as one of Serie A’s leading scorers with 12 for the season at Sampdoria. Now look at him. His Inter-isation is complete. 

Inter also can’t seem to get out of the Christmas spirit. Since the last game before the winter break, they have repeatedly handed out gifts to their opponents. What was Danilo D’Ambrosio thinking when, instead of heading Paulo Dybala’s set-piece away, he nodded it across goal for Bonucci ‘to bury’ Inter? 

One of Pep Guardiola’s favourite players - which will perhaps make Juventus brace themselves for an offer from Manchester City - it’s amusing to think that when Bonucci was coming through at Bari, his centre-back partner Andrea Ranocchia was regarded as the better prospect. BeckenBonucci or BonucciBauer, whichever way you like it, is one of Europe’s best defenders. A modern libero, few centre-backs possess his range of passing and his ability to strike a ball as well as the shot he volleyed past Handanovic. 

Once again, he came up big. When Bonucci scores, they tend to be on nights like these. Look at who his goals have come against in the last couple of years and there are some illustrious names: Both Rome clubs. Both Milan clubs and Fiorentina. Developed by the academy at Inter, Bonucci was traded to Genoa in the deal that took Thiago Motta and Diego Milito to San Siro. Their part in the treble would still make Interisti argue it was worthwhile, but a leader of Bonucci’s charisma and defender of his calibre is another player they team lack. 

Max Allegri again affected the game from the bench. Simone Zaza came on and got the winner against Napoli. Alvaro Morata and Stefano Sturaro combined to equalise against Bayern. And Morata was at it again last night. Miranda felt the referee should have called a foul against Morata after a shoulder to shoulder in the box. When he didn’t, the otherwise calm and collected Brazil international applied too much force when re-engaging with the Spaniard as if it were a Madrid derby from a couple of years back and gave away a soft penalty. 

Individual errors were once again Inter’s undoing. Morata ended a 20-game goal drought against the Nerazzurri in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final last month. As was the case then, he beat Handanovic from the penalty spot, which is easier said than done considering that Inter’s No.1 has saved 22 of the 60 he has faced in Serie A. Morata is quietly going about making himself a cult hero in this rivalry. He has now scored four times in the Derby d’Italia. 

His captain, Buffon, didn’t need a shower after the game. An eighth clean sheet in a row means Juventus now go into their next league game away to Atalanta able to match the club record they established in 1972-73 for consecutive matches without conceding. It’s a personal best even for Buffon. The last time he picked the ball out of the net in Serie A was 12 hours and 26 minutes ago. The record Sebastiano Rossi set when he went 15 hours and 29 minutes unbeaten at Milan in 1994 is beginning to come into sight. 

Juventus continue to march on. They can watch Fiorentina-Napoli safe in the knowledge that whatever happens tonight they will still be top of the table. If Napoli don’t get a result - they’re without a win in four games in all competitions - this weekend in Serie A will come to be looked upon on as pivotal. 

As for Inter, it is likely to get worse before it gets any better. They play Juventus again on Wednesday with the improbable task of overturning a 3-0 deficit in the Coppa Italia. “If Mancini were called Ranieri he would have been sacked by now,” wrote Alberto Cerrutti in this morning’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “If he were called Mazzarri he would have been sacked.” If the season started in 2016, Inter would be in midtable. They have lost more times [4] than they have won [3]. Cousins Milan are breathing down their necks and their prospects of qualifying for the Champions League are becoming more and more remote. Juventus’ win last night could be the final nail in the coffin.