Chapter 902: The Miserable Old Club

After the Manchester Derby, the Champions League knockout round of 16 is right around the corner.

Manchester United's opponent is last season's Triple Crown winner Inter Milan, Gao Xiaodong's former club.

If Manchester United fans could know in advance that they would face Inter Milan in the round of 16 at the beginning of the season, Manchester United fans would definitely curse them.

But now the Manchester United people are in a much better mood, and they would like to say another thank you to former Red Army coach Benitez.

Of course, Benitez is also the former Inter Milan coach.

Although Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong, the two cornerstones of Inter Milan's triple crown, left Inter Milan in the summer, the basic framework of Inter Milan is still there. The core change from Gao Xiaodong to Sneijder has dropped half a gear. The change of head coach from Benitez to Mourinho can be considered a step down by half a level.

This kind of Inter Milan dare not say how good it can continue to achieve in the Champions League. The semi-finals are still guaranteed, and there will be no suspense in Serie A.

However, after half a year of Benitez's coaching, Inter Milan's locker room was in chaos, in a sluggish state, and turned into a mess, which was simply unbearable to look back on.

Benitez's Serie A debut was tied 0-0 by Bologna, which also indicated that the Spanish coach's coaching journey is destined to be difficult. After the next three consecutive victories, Inter Milan ascended to the top position. This was the position that the original Inter Milan people were most accustomed to, but it turned out that this was just a flash in the pan. The 0-1 loss to Roma in the 5th round was a turning point in the Nerazzurri's fortunes in the new season. After a 0-0 home draw with Juventus in the 6th round, they lost their position as the leader and were subsequently suppressed by their city rivals AC Milan. Live and never get over again.

Starting from the 1-1 draw with Brescia in the 10th round, Inter Milan began an embarrassing four-round winless run, and suffered three defeats in the four games from the 12th to the 15th round. The loss to AC Milan at home also made a record become obsolete - the proud record of 46 unbeaten home games that lasted for 967 days was sealed. It also marked the end of 53 games in all competitions since November 2008. , "Europe's happiest" home court ended here. The away defeat to Lazio also wiped out the seven-year record of not losing to the Blue Eagles, and the city rivals took the opportunity to leave Inter Milan far away.

After the halfway period, Inter Milan was 13 points behind the leader AC Milan, and the ranking fell to 5th. This was Inter Milan's worst record in the same period in the past 6 seasons, so that after the New Year, the Nerazzurri had to fight for a Champions League spot. Fight like hell.

As dismal as the league was, Inter Milan's performance in the Champions League was also disappointing. Their group opponents are not strong. Tottenham, Werder Bremen, and Twente can only be regarded as second-tier teams in Europe. However, their record of qualifying second in the group with only 7 points also makes the Nerazzurri the best team after the 2004-05 season. Worst defending champion since Porto. A 1-3 defeat to Tottenham, a 0-3 defeat to Werder Bremen, Bell's hat trick at Meazza,

These are unbearable memories for Nerazzurri fans.

The draw of Manchester United, which is in the best shape in Europe, in the top 16 almost indicates that defending champion Inter Milan's Champions League journey this season may end in the top 16.

During the winter break, Inter Milan won the Club World Cup, which is a good thing for Inter Milan. In any case, this is a trophy for club competitions around the world. If it is handled well, maybe it can be a revitalization for Inter Milan. The turning point of glory.

However, the Club World Cup not only did not give Inter Milan a chance to survive, but instead aggravated Inter Milan's internal conflicts. As Benitez gained confidence by winning the Club World Cup, he criticized Moratti's signing policy for being too stingy. .

Moratti had just won the Triple Crown last season, and when he was at the peak of his arrogance, he heard Benitez criticize his recruitment policy. Moratti, who was supervising the war in Tokyo, got angry and came back. In Italy, Moratti directly fired Benitez and invited former rival coach Leonardo.

When Triple Crown winner Inter Milan falls to this point, the biggest sinner is of course Benitez.

The Spaniard confidently took over the Triple Crown team that Mourinho had basically built in the summer. From the day he stepped into the Pinetina base, Benitez was determined to erase the legacy left by the madman in Inter Milan. Imprint, Benitez requested the removal of Mourinho's portrait, which also aroused dissatisfaction among the players and created a gap between Benitez and the players.

Tactically, the core ideas of Benitez and Mourinho are quite different. The Spaniard emphasizes high-position pressing tactics and requires the team to pay more attention to the control of the scene, while Mourinho rarely emphasizes ball control and high-position pressing, focusing on counterattacks. After Benitez changed his tactics, Inter Milan had no high-level ball control. rate, but the offensive efficiency is extremely low, unable to win against weak teams and losing against strong teams.

Of course, Benitez is not responsible for such bad results. He cannot bear such a big blame. The second biggest sinner of Inter Milan is Chairman Moratti.

After more than ten years of investment regardless of cost, Moratti, who has achieved success, seems to have lost interest in continuing to fight.

Last summer's transfer market was the most frugal season since Moratti took over as president. Inter Milan let go of Gao Xiaodong, but after receiving 80 million euros, they only introduced a substitute goalkeeper, Castellachi, while Biabiani only redeemed half of the ownership, and Coutinho got two The deal was finalized years ago. The team is older and lacks investment. Once injuries occur, there will be no one to take care of them. This is obviously an important reason that affects Inter Milan's record.

In addition to the head coach and chairman who bear the greatest responsibility, the core players of Inter Milan are also to blame. Except for Eto'o, who is in great form and has scored in all seven competitions this year, Milito, Sneijder, Maicon and others have all declined sharply after winning the Triple Crown. Milito no longer has the ability to score goals last season. Tough, Sneijder has the most shots in Serie A but has not scored a single goal. Maicon was completely beaten by Tottenham's Magic Wing Bale in the Champions League.

After such a group of "old men" lost their fighting spirit, it is not surprising that Inter Milan's flash collapse.

In this half-season, what Inter Milan fans miss the most is Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong. Almost all Nella players believe that if one of these two is left, Inter Milan will at least not collapse this season.

Of course, some media and fans believe that Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong are a pair of cunning people. They just saw that Inter Milan's form and luck last season cannot be replicated, so they left resolutely at the end of the season.

The results proved that Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong were the winners in life. After changing clubs, Mourinho's Real Madrid was second only to Barcelona, ​​while Gao Xiaodong's Manchester United became the most popular team in Europe.

After Leonardo took over, Inter Milan's performance improved, with seven wins and two losses in seven Serie A games.

But such a record cannot change the pattern of Serie A. They are still 11 points behind AC Milan. There is no hope for the Serie A championship. Now they can only pray that they can defeat the old champion Manchester United in the Champions League, otherwise this will be another season in which all four major players are defeated.