Forza Inter (1 Viewer)
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HAHAHAHA FORZA INTER!!!!
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Little return for Inter's £450m
By Ben Lyttleton
Imagine, if you can, the next eight years for Chelsea in which they somehow fail to win any trophies while owner Roman Abramovich spends another £200 million on players and goes through 12 more coaches.
That sums up the 10-year reign of Internazionale owner Massimo Moratti, whose return on buying 114 players at a combined cost of £450 million has been one UEFA Cup success, back in 1998.
Moratti is convinced that this year, under new coach Roberto Mancini, Inter can win the Champions League, but the omens are not good. They are facing city rivals AC Milan, who not only beat them on away goals in the Champions League semi-finals two years ago, but also recently ended Inter's 40-game unbeaten run with a 1-0 league win. Inter go into the game without injuredtop scorer Adriano.
"Before the draw, I had said I wanted to play Milan," Moratti said. "I have a feeling that now is the right time to get back what they have taken from us in the past. I want the players to believe they can win this match and I am optimistic."
Moratti's optimism is one of the only certainties in Italian football. It has been evident ever since he paid £20 million to take over Inter in February 1995, promising a return to the glory days of the Sixties, when his father Angelo was president and the club won three Serie A titles and two European Cups. Moratti stepped down as president last year but remains owner and moneylender-in-chief. "I changed players and coaches so many times and it just didn't work," he said as Giacinto Facchetti stepped in, "so I thought it must be time to change the president."
He is famous for ignoring his coaches' requests for players and buying players he wants to see in Inter colours. That explains his decision to sell Roberto Carlos to Real Madrid and replace him with Vratislav Gresko, a flop at Blackburn, and to give Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf - both of whom will play on Wednesday - to Milan in return for out-of-favour full-back Francesco Coco and Thomas Helveg, who has since joined Norwich.
It is no wonder that opposition fans love him almost as much as Inter supporters. Moratti is a billionaire, like Abramovich, but an accessible one: he enjoys talking to supporters and his home number is listed in Italy's version of Yellow Pages. One of the few Italian coaches not to have worked under Moratti is Fabio Capello, formerly of AC Milan and Roma, now at Juventus. "Moratti deserves to win a Scudetto for his passion and love for Inter," he said. Italy coach Marcello Lippi, who did work at Inter, explained the problem: "He's honest but surrounds himself with people who influence him.''
Lippi had ended his reign when Inter came closest to success under Moratti. In 2002, they led the league by one point on the final day before losing 4-2 to Lazio. Juventus beat Udinese to jump ahead of them while Roma also won to push them into third place. Four years earlier, a controversial refereeing decision had helped Juventus beat Inter and win the title. "Inter's destiny has always been to suffer," Moratti sighed. "If I'd learned from my mistakes, we would have won something more. But I haven't yet given up."
___________________________________
Little return for Inter's £450m
By Ben Lyttleton
Imagine, if you can, the next eight years for Chelsea in which they somehow fail to win any trophies while owner Roman Abramovich spends another £200 million on players and goes through 12 more coaches.
That sums up the 10-year reign of Internazionale owner Massimo Moratti, whose return on buying 114 players at a combined cost of £450 million has been one UEFA Cup success, back in 1998.
Moratti is convinced that this year, under new coach Roberto Mancini, Inter can win the Champions League, but the omens are not good. They are facing city rivals AC Milan, who not only beat them on away goals in the Champions League semi-finals two years ago, but also recently ended Inter's 40-game unbeaten run with a 1-0 league win. Inter go into the game without injuredtop scorer Adriano.
"Before the draw, I had said I wanted to play Milan," Moratti said. "I have a feeling that now is the right time to get back what they have taken from us in the past. I want the players to believe they can win this match and I am optimistic."
Moratti's optimism is one of the only certainties in Italian football. It has been evident ever since he paid £20 million to take over Inter in February 1995, promising a return to the glory days of the Sixties, when his father Angelo was president and the club won three Serie A titles and two European Cups. Moratti stepped down as president last year but remains owner and moneylender-in-chief. "I changed players and coaches so many times and it just didn't work," he said as Giacinto Facchetti stepped in, "so I thought it must be time to change the president."
He is famous for ignoring his coaches' requests for players and buying players he wants to see in Inter colours. That explains his decision to sell Roberto Carlos to Real Madrid and replace him with Vratislav Gresko, a flop at Blackburn, and to give Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf - both of whom will play on Wednesday - to Milan in return for out-of-favour full-back Francesco Coco and Thomas Helveg, who has since joined Norwich.
It is no wonder that opposition fans love him almost as much as Inter supporters. Moratti is a billionaire, like Abramovich, but an accessible one: he enjoys talking to supporters and his home number is listed in Italy's version of Yellow Pages. One of the few Italian coaches not to have worked under Moratti is Fabio Capello, formerly of AC Milan and Roma, now at Juventus. "Moratti deserves to win a Scudetto for his passion and love for Inter," he said. Italy coach Marcello Lippi, who did work at Inter, explained the problem: "He's honest but surrounds himself with people who influence him.''
Lippi had ended his reign when Inter came closest to success under Moratti. In 2002, they led the league by one point on the final day before losing 4-2 to Lazio. Juventus beat Udinese to jump ahead of them while Roma also won to push them into third place. Four years earlier, a controversial refereeing decision had helped Juventus beat Inter and win the title. "Inter's destiny has always been to suffer," Moratti sighed. "If I'd learned from my mistakes, we would have won something more. But I haven't yet given up."
This was a huge load of bullcrap! I've never heard this much sh1t in my life! We cant beat the big teams? Lazio, Roma are defeated and they arent any big teams anymore. We drew against you in san siro... and against milan. So we arent that bad, are we? Del Piero is a much greater player than any striker in Inter. Okay, Adriano can become greater, but he is far away from Del Piero class yet. And Italy is really good internationally too. 3 / 4 Italian teams through, 2 / 4 english teams, 0 / 4 Spanish teams.... that says a lot, doesnt it? And Italy has had really bad luck with referees lately in the worldcup and Euro...but It will change I believe, just wait and see.
