When the moment of leaving everything on the pitch arrives, you don’t leave the skill, you leave the blood. We were a team of heroes, we sweated blood. It is a pity I could not play because I have got the same blood.”
Those were the words of the Special one, Jose Mourinho, when he led the Nerazzurri to the Champions League glory at the Santiago Bernabeau against Bayern Munich in 2010.
The set of players the Portuguese manager paraded back then can be classified as soldiers who were ready to die there (using the Nigerian popular phrase) on the pitch for their manager.
Jose Mourinho instilled utmost confidence and the never say die spirit in the then Inter team that had grown men dominate the crux of the team.
The average age of Inter’s starting eleven for the Champions League final against Bayern was 29.6, comfortably the highest of any winning side in the last decade. This goes to show that there’s every possibility of handling an aged squad, transform them, and mold them to become winners.
Last weekend was the 10th year, the Nerazzurri pulled the astonishing feat. And to mark the decade anniversary, the brothers of the 2010 Inter Milan squad all sat behind their computer screens to reflect on the season in which they conquered all they could conquer, with some of them apparently growing grey hairs strange thin line on their faces.
Also, the mastermind behind the unprecedented achievement in Italian Football, Jose Mourinho, joined Marco Materazzi, the then captain, Javier Zanetti, Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito, Esteban Cambiasso and a host of other members of the team.
Well, Coronavirus may have stopped them from meeting physically but the digital reunion ensured that the gentlemen, brought up the nostalgic moments and feeling again.
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Inter back then were organized, versatile, and could launch an onslaught when the opponents least expect. Clearly, those were days Jose Mourinho also was at his peak as a manager and having a team like that in thrall to a leader of Mourinho’s caliber, success was inevitable.
However, since he left Inter Milan after the treble achievement in 2010, Inter has dwindled in every sphere and have also tested many other managers to fill the void Jose Mourinho left and take them close to the level which the former Chelsea manager took the Nerazzurri in space of two years, unfortunately, none of the managers have been able to do that.
Since Mourinho moved away from Inter in 2010, twelve managers have managed the club but could not muster any tangible result. The last trophy the club lifted was the Copa Italia, which the special one won in July 2010.
Antonio Conte is the thirteenth manager after Jose Mourinho‘s exodus, and he looks as though he’s on course with Inter to bring back the good old days with different generations of players.
Currently, the average age of Inter’s squad is 28.35, which means that with the crop of players in the squad as of now, the change will be made to the club in terms of laurels which has been missing apparently since Mourinho left.
When the miracle happened in 2010, what made Mourinho’s treble-winning squad more legendary is the fact that many of the members of the squad were in their first seasons at Inter. Samuel Eto’o, Thiago Motta, Sneijder, Milito, and Lucio were all hand-picked by Mourinho in the summer of 2009, while Goran Pandev joined in the January window.
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These were not players signed because of their re-sale value, or as part of any long-term development plan — they were hired to win and to win immediately which eventually worked.
But looking at how Juventus have dominated Italian football for close to a decade, Antonio Conte and the current Inter Milan squad have all it takes to lead the remaining 19 clubs in the top flight division and put an end to Juve’s hegemony over other Italian clubs.
He’s got the players at his disposal, he’s got the experience as a manager and the resources to defeat the Frankenstein he has built-in Juve. Also, it’s not a coincidence that Conte’s job at Inter is the second job in his coaching career where he would manage a team previously managed by Jose Mourinho.
Having used a year at Chelsea, and winning the EPL as well as the FA Cup, the future looks bright for Conte and Inter to bring about a revolution in the Italian Football.
