by Forza Italia!Forza Milan! Tue Aug 05, 2008 3:40 pm
Blog: No big deal
Inter are often referred to as European giants, a description which Antonio Labbate feels is perhaps a little too grand for now
“European giants Inter…” You’ve all read it, some of you would have heard it and I’ve probably even typed it in the past. But how accurate is such a term when referring to Internazionale? There’s no real right or wrong answer of course, given that we are dealing with personal definition here, but it’s a question that does highlight how little the Nerazzurri have done in the Champions League over the years.
While fans and officials from the San Siro outfit will proudly and rightly point to the two European Cups which they lifted successively in 1964 and ’65, the Coppa Campioni has since become something of a taboo for Inter. Although they are now regular participants in the competition, their semi-final tie against city rivals Milan in 2003 was their first appearance in the last four since defeat to Real Madrid 22 years earlier.
That’s not exactly a record to be proud of. Granted, they have actually won the trophy, but that double triumph alone shouldn’t guarantee giant status. After all, you don’t exactly see Nottingham Forest – champions in 1979 and ’80 – hailed in such terms. Okay, that’s an unfair comparison given their domestic slump since relegation under Cloughie, but the likes of Aston Villa, Porto, Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg have all been more recent winners than Inter.
The expansion of the Champions League should, in theory at least, have helped Inter to live up to their supposed international pedigree, but it hasn’t. If anything it has weakened their standing. With the Scudetto no longer needed as a passport to Europe’s top prize, the UEFA Cup specialists [Inter won it three times in the 1990s] would have been expected to make a number of serious assaults funded by Massimo Moratti’s millions.
It’s never really happened. Putting 2003 to one side – as they ludicrously lost to Milan on the away goals rule in a stadium they share – Inter have been one of the tournament’s serial under-achievers as the recent painful defeats to Villarreal, Valencia and Liverpool help to illustrate. Perhaps then it’s not surprising that they opted to replace Roberto Mancini this summer with Jose Mourinho, a man whose recent history in the competition is more impressive than that of his employers.
So are Inter European giants? It’ll probably be more precise to call them sleeping giants for now. But as they re-emerged on the Serie A scene with a hat-trick of Scudetti following a 17-year title drought – they are undoubtedly Italian giants today – this may just be the year that they wake on the continent too.
Home
