Article 35 — Inter 09–10
Jose Mourinho would have been satisfied and pleased with adding the Scudetto to the English Premier League and Primeira Liga in Portugal as national championships he has won among other trophies he has won at Chelsea and Porto before his time at Inter. But he would know that Inter were already winning the Scudetto before his time and he was hired to achieve success in Europe which he failed last season.
Mourinho knew work needed to be done in the summer to bridge the gap with the best in Europe. Inter signed Thiago Motta and Diego Milito from Genoa in exchange with youth team players Robert Acquafresca, Leonardo Bonucci, Riccardo Meggiorini Francesco Bolzoni and Ivan Fatic. Lucio was signed from Bayern Munich, Samuel Eto’o fresh from winning the Treble with Barcelona the previous season was exchanged with Inter’s number 1 star striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marko Arnautovic was signed on loan and finally, late in the summer transfer window, Wesley Sneijder was signed from Real Madrid. In the winter transfer market, McDonald Mariga was signed and Goran Pandev, initially signed in 2001 without making any appearances for the club, was re-signed.
Maxwell left in the summer, joining his best friend, Ibrahimovic at Barcelona. Nicolas Burdisso, Luis Jimenez and Nelson Rivas left on loan, Hernan Crespo, and Julio Cruz were released on a free transfer and in the winter transfer window, Mancini and David Suazo were released on loan and Patrick Viera was released on a free transfer.
Inter’s participation in the Supercoppa Italiana this season ended in defeat, losing 1–2 to previous season’s Coppa Italia winners, Lazio in a tie played at Beijing, China. Inter went to the top of the table from Week 7 of the season and stayed there until Week 33. In that time, Inter thrashed Milan in the first Milan derby of the season 4–0. It was also Wesley Sneijder’s first match of the season, starting the game just days after joining Inter. We had also thrashed Genoa 5–0 at a tough ground to play in Stadio Luigi Ferraris, 5–3 win at home against Palermo, 4–3 win at home to Siena and the second Milan derby win of the season, 2–0.
Like in 2007–08, Inter risked losing the Scudetto as this season, they were feeling the effects of juggling 3 competitions at the same time, going far in the Champions League and Coppa Italia. A 1–2 defeat away to Roma, allowed the Romans to cut the lead to 1 point and they went top after Inter failed to beat Fiorentina while Roma won their match against Atalanta. With the fixture list Roma had, we were praying for some help either from their neighbours, Lazio or from Champions League-chasing, Sampdoria. Roma held their nerve to beat Lazio in the Rome derby but lost 1–2 to a Sampdoria team that was having a splendid season a week after. At the same time, Inter held their nerves to beat Juventus and Atalanta at home to return to the top of the table.
Inter needed to win their final game of the season at Stadio Artemio Franchi, the scene of their triumph in 2006–07 against Siena and Roma needed to beat Chievo Verona at Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi and hope for an unlikely favour from already-relegated Siena. It was nervy and tensed for us as we huffed and puffed but couldn’t find a breakthrough. Finally, the breakthrough came in the 57th minute through Diego Milito. We did enough to not mess up the rest of the match, see out the rest of the game and clinch our 18th league title, 4th Scudetti in a row won on the pitch and 5th consecutive one officially.
In the Coppa Italia, Inter beat Juventus 2–1 in the quarter-final before beating Fiorentina 2–0 on aggregate in the semi-final. In the final, Inter faced a very familiar foe in AS Roma. We faced each other in the Coppa Italia final for the 5th time in 6 seasons, with both clubs winning 2 Coppa Italias each. The match played at Stadio Olimpico was tense, tight and even as expected. The match was settled by a wonderful piece of skill and determination by that man again, Diego Milito, who took on the retreating Roma defence on the counter-attack to drive a shot into the top corner and score the game’s only goal. To sum up Roma’s frustration, captain Francesco Totti was sent off for taking a swing at Mario Balotelli with 2 minutes to go.
The Coppa Italia was the first trophy won that season followed by the Scudetto.
We very nearly went out of the Champions League in the group stage itself after drawing the first 3 matches against Barcelona at home, Rubin Kazan away and Dynamo Kiev at home. In the return match against Dynamo Kiev, we were facing the very real possibility of being embarrassingly knocked out when we found ourselves 0–1 down thanks to a regular tormentor in the past, Andriy Shevchenko. In the final 4 minutes of the match, Inter scored twice through Milito and Sneijder to win their first game in the group stage.
Despite losing to Barcelona 0–2 in their next match, Inter qualified for the 2nd Round after beating Rubin Kazan at home. It was a less than impressive European campaign and we were facing up to the possibility of once again under-achieving in Europe. The luck of the draw threw up a reunion with one of Jose Mourinho’s previous clubs in Chelsea in the 2nd Round.
Inter took the lead through Milito but Salomon Kalou got his team a vital away goal in the 2nd half. Esteban Cambiasso restored Inter’s lead 8 minutes after to ensure that heads didn’t drop in despair and confidence was not lost. In the 2nd leg, Inter produced a tactical masterclass as they soaked and countered the English team, winning 1–0 on the night and 3–1 on aggregate. After 2 previous failed attempts, Inter finally beat an English side in the 2nd Round to progress to the quarter-final.
A routine 2–0 aggregate win over CSKA Moscow in the quarter-final set up a rematch against a team we have already played twice this season, the defending champions, FC Barcelona in the semi-final. After getting knocked out in the 2nd Round for 3 consecutive Champions League campaigns, to have got to the semi-final was a big achievement and improvement in itself.
Nobody gave us a chance in the semi-final against the world’s best team at that time who was imperious and seemingly unbeatable. Jose Mourinho once again produced a tactical masterclass to catch Barcelona and Pep Guardiola off-guard. Barcelona scored first through Pedro and had we not showed belief, patience and mental strength, we would not have got back in the game.
We equalised through Sneijder before taking the lead through Maicon 3 minutes into the 2nd half. We added a third through Milito in the 61st minute to seal a 3–1 first-leg win. We had stunned and surprised Barcelona by pressing high and hard, taking advantage of the fruits of our labour to score while allowing Barcelona to typically dominate possession. In the 2nd leg, as expected, it would be Barcelona’s attack vs our defence. It was a question of whether we had it in us to withstand the waves of attacks and possibly score an away goal ourselves.
It got tougher for us when Thiago Motta was sent off in the 28th minute for collecting 2 yellow cards rather harshly. It was backs against the wall for the rest of the game. Barcelona huffed and puffed but they couldn’t completely blow our house down. They did finally score 6 minutes before the end through Gerard Pique. It looked like they finally found the goal needed to knock us out in injury time but it was disallowed for handball much to our relief. Inter defended like heroes that night and had produced 2 tactically perfect performances to knock holders and favourites, Barcelona out.
When people think back to this game, they remember the defensive effort we put in the second leg. They remember Jose Mourinho “parking the bus” in the 2nd leg at Nou Camp. What they don’t remember is that in the 1st leg, we played on the front foot and with lesser possession than our opponents, we created more clear-cut chances. It was the performance and score in the 1st leg that enabled us to sit back and soak the Barcelona pressure in the 2nd leg. Over both legs, Barcelona found it really tough to create much in terms of clear-cut chances. Aside from one save from Lionel Messi at Nou Camp, I don’t remember Julio Cesar being fully expanded at all in goal.
Inter got to the final to play against Bayern Munich who like us, were chasing a Treble. Mourinho would also be re-acquainted with someone on the opposite bench whom he learnt from during his time at Barcelona, Louis Van Gaal. Inter allowed Bayern all the possession in the world without allowing them a sniff at our goal. In 2 moments on the counter-attack, we won the final through the man for the big games, Diego Milito, scoring both goals almost on his own.
Inter became the first Italian team to win the Treble, a record still unbroken. The biggest triumph of all would have to be achieving the Holy Grail of finally winning the Champions League after 45 years. Like a jigsaw, the signings Inter made this season fitted perfectly with the team Mourinho had last season. An evolution of tactics from 4–3–3 and 4–4–2 to 4–2–1–3 was crucial too, made possible by the signing of a real playmaker in Sneijder.
Diego Milito had a very good 2008–09 with Genoa but nobody expected the impact that he would have on this Inter team especially in the wake of signing a world-class striker and proven winner in Samuel Eto’o. Eto’o put himself at the disposal of the team operating from the left-wing. Pandev signed in the winter market was also an unsung hero, like Eto’o on the opposite flank, putting himself at the disposal of Mourinho, working tirelessly. Lucio formed a rock-solid partnership with Walter Samuel while Thiago Motta dovetailed well with Cambiasso in a two-man midfield. Of course, to achieve a feat of this magnitude required the contribution of the rest of the squad as well and everyone played their part.
The sale of Ibrahimovic was also significant. The team had become one-dimensional and easy to read in Europe as all the play centred on Ibrahimovic and the pressure to deliver got to him as he failed to deliver, creating some friction and annoyance from the Inter fans who expected more from him. It would be hard to imagine Ibrahimovic performing the role Eto’o or Milito did in this campaign so that was a justified decision that was vindicated. At the time of the signing, I felt it was right as Eto’o had that little bit extra in him to perform well in big games in Europe. He had the experience as well from his time with Barcelona. I was pleasantly surprised when we completed this coup and that Barcelona would allow a player like him to leave.
4 days ago, Inter and some of the players from that campaign celebrated the 10th anniversary of this momentous, unique feat. Sadly shortly after this season, things were to nosedive for Inter in the 2010s. Jose Mourinho left at the end of the season in a sea of tears for a new challenge at Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga but not before delivering what he was hired for. He will forever remain etched in the hearts of every Interista. Personally, I have been fortunate to now experience both my favourite clubs win a Treble.
I leave with the famous press conference where he calls out our rivals, Roma, Milan and Juventus for having 0 titles, zero tituli in the 2008–09 season while we had won the Supercoppa Italiana and were on course for another Scudetto.
