2023-06-08 06:54:07
Milan (AFP)
Inter’s arrival in the UEFA Champions League final is the latest achievement in Simone Inzaghi’s underrated coaching career, highlighting his ability to defy expectations.
The former striker spent his playing career in the shadow of his older brother Filippo, a prolific goalscorer for Italy’s top clubs, who won the 2006 World Cup and the UEFA Champions League twice.
Simone played most of his career with Lazio and is loved by the capital’s fans, despite his modest goalscoring record and a sole league title with them in 2000.
But on the coaching front, Simone is superior to his brother, and supervises one of Europe’s top clubs, while Philippo trains in the lower ranks.
Now he has the opportunity to win the most expensive European cups against Manchester City in Istanbul on Saturday, just as his brother did as a player in 2003 and 2007 with Milan, the local rivals of Inter, knowing that the Turkish city carries bad memories for Filippo after he wasted with Milan a 3-0 lead at a break. The two halves in the 2005 final against Liverpool, England, and they lost on penalties.
Inzaghi, 47, told reporters on Monday: “It is the most important match for me ever, but I think it is the case for my players, because we have players like Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko and Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana who played in the semi-finals and never played a final match.”
He continued, “This will be compensation for all the efforts we have made. It was a long and difficult year.”
After he retired from football while he was in Lazio in 2010, he stayed with the team and supervised the youth teams, before he was assigned the task of the first team as of 2016.
He had a direct impact, returning the Eagles to European competitions and leading them to the local cup final, which they lost against Juventus, which dominated Italian football at the time.
Lazio often stands in the shadow of Rome, its arch-rivals in the capital, and is hindered by the budget compared to the big three in Italy, Juventus, Inter and Milan, which in turn are considered relatively “poor” clubs in Europe.
And after he succeeded in achieving the Italian Cup 2019 and crowning two titles in the Super Cup, both against Juventus (2017 and 2019), and leading Lazio to a fourth qualifying place for the Champions League in 2020, he drew the attention of Inter, who is suffering from financial hardship, to succeed Antonio Conte, who led the team to the title. Serie A in 2021.
Inzaghi arrived at Inter two years ago when the club was about to enter a dark tunnel, after Conte’s departure and the sale of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku and Moroccan full-back Ashraf Hakimi, the most prominent stars of the team who achieved the “Scudetto”.
Lukaku’s sale to Chelsea not only angered the fans, but also CEO Giuseppe Marotta and Inzaghi, according to reports, and fans protested outside the club’s headquarters.
But after he got used to offering a lot in what was available to him with Lazio, he compensated for the absence of the stars with modest financial deals, instead of complaining about selling them with his arrival.
He created a new style of play, drawing the best from every element of his team and not just from a few key players, including veterans such as Dzeko, who will be making his first Champions League final at the age of 37 against his old club Manchester City.
Despite his failure to retain the league title, which was not originally expected of him, he finished runner-up to Milan, by only two points, in 2022.
He led Inter to two titles in the Italian Cup and the same in the Super Cup, and to the Champions League final, which no coach has done since Jose Mourinho achieved the hat-trick with Nerazzurri in 2010.
Saturday’s final is not only the first for Inter in the main continental competition since 2010, but also the first for an Italian club since 2017.
This comes after last season led him to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, before losing against Liverpool in the final price.
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