This is how Masherano stopped Ibrahimovic at Anfield and he shall repeat it at San Siro!By Kevin Buckley
Inter Milan celebrate their centenary this Sunday, but the Italian football club and its supporters are not exactly in a party mood. Little more than two weeks ago, the team were unbeaten in Serie A, sitting atop the league where they have been ensconced for almost every weekend for the past three seasons.
They enjoyed a nine-point lead on second-placed Roma and were on course for a third consecutive domestic championship. And the side were also through to the last 16 knockout stage of the Champions League after comfortably finishing top of their qualifying group.
And the icing on the cake? AC Milan, the city rivals from whom the club broke away to become independent those 100 seasons ago, were languishing 18 points off the pace in Serie A. Joy for the fans of the nerazzurro (black and blue) seemed unconfined.
Yet instead, Inter’s unerring ability to press the self-destruct button means their centenary celebrations, and the season as whole, could fall flat.
Two defeats, one of them possibly crucial, and a lucky draw have led to the players sniping at both each other and coach Roberto Mancini, who in turn has been criticising the club’s medical team.
And matters will get worse, much worse, if they go out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage for the second successive year by failing to overcome a two-goal first-leg deficit against Liverpool at the San Siro on Tuesday.
Andrea Di Cola, a lifetime Inter fan, says :“Gioccatolo é rotto”, which roughly translates as “the wheels are coming off the wagon”. Sitting in his office near the 14th-century Castello Sforzesco in Milan’s historic centre, the 41-year-old international management consultant shakes his head as he surveys the wreckage of the past two weeks. “I don’t know. It seems that every springtime, the players seem to get distracted or something,” he says.
Simplistic as it may seem, it is as good an explanation as you can find for how this huge and hugely expensive squad manages to mess things up just when prospects are looking so good. Last season they flattered to deceive in the Champions League group games only to go crashing out at the first knockout stage in Valencia amid a shameful mass brawl.
Yet this season, until the winter break in late December, Inter were in astonishing form. “Every player was having a purple patch of form. They were unbeatable,” recalls Di Cola.
The club had even resolved the Adriano problem, offloading the troublesome striker and his bad behaviour by loaning him to Flamengo in Brazil.
But then, in the second half of February, came 12 days that shook Inter’s complacent world. An undeserved Champions League defeat in Liverpool set in motion events that evaporated their seemingly imperious confidence and led to a much-deserved 1-0 loss at mid-table Napoli last Sunday. This was their first Serie A defeat in 31 matches.
Yet even before then had come signs that all was not right at Inter, when the club imposed a ban on all comment to the media by players and staff. It was an over-reaction to a complaint by opponents that Inter’s status was intimidating referees into making decisions in their favour.
“Psychological subservience” among match officials is a particularly sensitive subject ever since Juventus were punished with relegation in 2006 when Luciano Moggi, their general manager, was found to have manipulated referees and officials.
Then came the 12 crucial days. On February 19, Inter lost 2-0 at Liverpool after defender Marco Materazzi had been sent off for collecting two yellow cards, leaving his side battling with 10 men for 70 minutes.
Even though Materazzi’s dismissal was harsh, it did not stop striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic laying into his teammate. On live television after the match, when asked why Inter had lost, he said: “Why don’t you ask Materazzi?”
Some might argue, however, that more salient to the defeat was the umpteenth example of the Swedish striker himself failing to produce his domestic form on an international stage.
Argentine striker Hernán Crespo then added to the media mismanagement – a forte of Inter Milan’s at the best of times – by complaining about not being selected by Mancini. “I don’t understand it,” he said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the club possesses five attackers and that he had been out injured for more than a month. “At the end of the season I’ll weigh up things before deciding [whether to stay at the club],” he added.
Even Mancini weighed in. At a press conference a few days later, he publicly ridiculed the club’s medical team: “Once again the problem the player has is something completely different to what the medics said it was,” he said, having learnt that top-scorer Ibrahimovic, who has scored 14 goals, would be out for three weeks. Second top-scorer Julio Cruz also injured himself, prompting questions about Inter’s training regime and medical treatment.
The list of unavailable players at one point included defenders Walter Samuel and Cristian Chivu; midfielders Dejan Stankovic, Patrick Vieira, Luis Jiménez and Olivier Dacourt; and striker Crespo. When Mancini then lost Cruz and Ibrahimovic, his first-choice attacking combination, Inter had to rely on Honduran striker David Suazo and 17-year-old Mario Balotelli, both more accustomed to cameo roles as substitutes. They were not up to the task.
A week after the Liverpool debacle, Roma came to the San Siro for a midweek game. Luciano Spalletti’s team sliced open Inter’s defence at will. A magnificent Francesco Totti goal appeared to have sealed the points for the visitors. But, despite dominating from start to finish, Roma wasted several chances and their profligacy cost them dear when Inter’s captain, defender Javier Zanetti, volleyed home an undeserved injury-time equaliser.
Inter salvaged a point but injury robbed them of key defender Iván Córdoba, perhaps for the rest of the season. This is a significant blow, coming at the worst moment.
Everything now depends upon Mancini’s ability to rouse his men. They had become unaccustomed to losing and suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of results twice in 12 days, with the Roma struggle in between. Despite that, they remain top of Serie A, still six points clear with 12 games remaining.
But Tuesday’s Champions League game is crucial to them regaining confidence and momentum. If Ibrahimovic and Cruz recover as expected, Mancini’s team have the strength to overturn the result in Liverpool.
Inter fans will know there is a precedent. In 1965, legendary coach Helenio Herrera’s mighty Inter Milan lost 3-1 at Liverpool at this stage of the then European Cup. But they overturned that result with a controversial 3-0 victory in the return leg at the San Siro. That spring Inter went on to win the trophy, the last time nerazzurri hands have lifted Europe’s biggest club prize.
Di Cola and his fellow Interisti will be hoping that precedent augurs well, so the centenary birthday can be truly celebrated in style.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
They enjoyed a nine-point lead on second-placed Roma and were on course for a third consecutive domestic championship. And the side were also through to the last 16 knockout stage of the Champions League after comfortably finishing top of their qualifying group.
And the icing on the cake? AC Milan, the city rivals from whom the club broke away to become independent those 100 seasons ago, were languishing 18 points off the pace in Serie A. Joy for the fans of the nerazzurro (black and blue) seemed unconfined.
Yet instead, Inter’s unerring ability to press the self-destruct button means their centenary celebrations, and the season as whole, could fall flat.
Two defeats, one of them possibly crucial, and a lucky draw have led to the players sniping at both each other and coach Roberto Mancini, who in turn has been criticising the club’s medical team.
And matters will get worse, much worse, if they go out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage for the second successive year by failing to overcome a two-goal first-leg deficit against Liverpool at the San Siro on Tuesday.
Andrea Di Cola, a lifetime Inter fan, says :“Gioccatolo é rotto”, which roughly translates as “the wheels are coming off the wagon”. Sitting in his office near the 14th-century Castello Sforzesco in Milan’s historic centre, the 41-year-old international management consultant shakes his head as he surveys the wreckage of the past two weeks. “I don’t know. It seems that every springtime, the players seem to get distracted or something,” he says.
Simplistic as it may seem, it is as good an explanation as you can find for how this huge and hugely expensive squad manages to mess things up just when prospects are looking so good. Last season they flattered to deceive in the Champions League group games only to go crashing out at the first knockout stage in Valencia amid a shameful mass brawl.
Yet this season, until the winter break in late December, Inter were in astonishing form. “Every player was having a purple patch of form. They were unbeatable,” recalls Di Cola.
The club had even resolved the Adriano problem, offloading the troublesome striker and his bad behaviour by loaning him to Flamengo in Brazil.
But then, in the second half of February, came 12 days that shook Inter’s complacent world. An undeserved Champions League defeat in Liverpool set in motion events that evaporated their seemingly imperious confidence and led to a much-deserved 1-0 loss at mid-table Napoli last Sunday. This was their first Serie A defeat in 31 matches.
Yet even before then had come signs that all was not right at Inter, when the club imposed a ban on all comment to the media by players and staff. It was an over-reaction to a complaint by opponents that Inter’s status was intimidating referees into making decisions in their favour.
“Psychological subservience” among match officials is a particularly sensitive subject ever since Juventus were punished with relegation in 2006 when Luciano Moggi, their general manager, was found to have manipulated referees and officials.
Then came the 12 crucial days. On February 19, Inter lost 2-0 at Liverpool after defender Marco Materazzi had been sent off for collecting two yellow cards, leaving his side battling with 10 men for 70 minutes.
Even though Materazzi’s dismissal was harsh, it did not stop striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic laying into his teammate. On live television after the match, when asked why Inter had lost, he said: “Why don’t you ask Materazzi?”
Some might argue, however, that more salient to the defeat was the umpteenth example of the Swedish striker himself failing to produce his domestic form on an international stage.
Argentine striker Hernán Crespo then added to the media mismanagement – a forte of Inter Milan’s at the best of times – by complaining about not being selected by Mancini. “I don’t understand it,” he said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the club possesses five attackers and that he had been out injured for more than a month. “At the end of the season I’ll weigh up things before deciding [whether to stay at the club],” he added.
Even Mancini weighed in. At a press conference a few days later, he publicly ridiculed the club’s medical team: “Once again the problem the player has is something completely different to what the medics said it was,” he said, having learnt that top-scorer Ibrahimovic, who has scored 14 goals, would be out for three weeks. Second top-scorer Julio Cruz also injured himself, prompting questions about Inter’s training regime and medical treatment.
The list of unavailable players at one point included defenders Walter Samuel and Cristian Chivu; midfielders Dejan Stankovic, Patrick Vieira, Luis Jiménez and Olivier Dacourt; and striker Crespo. When Mancini then lost Cruz and Ibrahimovic, his first-choice attacking combination, Inter had to rely on Honduran striker David Suazo and 17-year-old Mario Balotelli, both more accustomed to cameo roles as substitutes. They were not up to the task.
A week after the Liverpool debacle, Roma came to the San Siro for a midweek game. Luciano Spalletti’s team sliced open Inter’s defence at will. A magnificent Francesco Totti goal appeared to have sealed the points for the visitors. But, despite dominating from start to finish, Roma wasted several chances and their profligacy cost them dear when Inter’s captain, defender Javier Zanetti, volleyed home an undeserved injury-time equaliser.
Inter salvaged a point but injury robbed them of key defender Iván Córdoba, perhaps for the rest of the season. This is a significant blow, coming at the worst moment.
Everything now depends upon Mancini’s ability to rouse his men. They had become unaccustomed to losing and suddenly found themselves on the wrong end of results twice in 12 days, with the Roma struggle in between. Despite that, they remain top of Serie A, still six points clear with 12 games remaining.
But Tuesday’s Champions League game is crucial to them regaining confidence and momentum. If Ibrahimovic and Cruz recover as expected, Mancini’s team have the strength to overturn the result in Liverpool.
Inter fans will know there is a precedent. In 1965, legendary coach Helenio Herrera’s mighty Inter Milan lost 3-1 at Liverpool at this stage of the then European Cup. But they overturned that result with a controversial 3-0 victory in the return leg at the San Siro. That spring Inter went on to win the trophy, the last time nerazzurri hands have lifted Europe’s biggest club prize.
Di Cola and his fellow Interisti will be hoping that precedent augurs well, so the centenary birthday can be truly celebrated in style.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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