Manicone: "Inter shirt like a second skin"

MILAN - Antonio Manicone is the latest guest to appear on Memorabilia, the Inter Channel show that each week looks back over the career of a different player from Nerazzurri yesteryear.

A holding midfielder by trade, Manicone joined Inter in November 1992 and quickly established himself as a fundamental cog in a team packed with attacking flair that had struggled in the early part of the season.

"I guess Inter needed a player like me at the time, although there were already some superb players like [Matthias] Sammer at the club. Perhaps they were lacking someone to balance out the team and I was the man.

"[Osvaldo] Bagnoli built his teams around the players available to him. We were a well-rounded side – excellent up front and strong at the back. The coach kept reassuring us and slowly but surely our quality came to the fore.

“We had several foreign lads in the team and I got on with everyone. I knew [Igor] Shalimov because we played together under [Zdenek] Zeman at Foggia. He was one of the best players I ever played with – skilful, hard-working and tactically astute with a great shot on him.

“Ruben Sosa led the line for us and I think lots of youngsters should study the way he played the game and learn from him. He was such a nice guy and a top striker to boot."

The Nerazzurri eventually finished second that season while the following year, 1993/94, went down as one of the strangest in Inter history as the team lifted the UEFA Cup and came 13th in Serie A.

“At a certain point of the season we started focusing solely on the UEFA Cup,” Manicone admitted.

“We had [Wim] Jonk and [Dennis] Bergkamp in the side and they really carried the team that year.”

In the quarter-finals a Jonk brace helped Bagnoli's side defeat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 in Germany but they then squandered the advantage back at the Meazza and found themselves 2-0 down and on the back foot.

“I'll never forget the goal I scored against Borussia Dortmund at home. We were all over the shop and almost conceded a third. Fortunately, out of nothing I made that burst forward and scored the goal that ensured we went through. It was a crucial goal."

As for Serie A: “It's harder to get relegated these days. Back in my day it was an 18-team league, four went down and the overall level was much higher. When you came up against teams like Genoa they had international-class players.”

Indeed, Manicone spent most of the 1994/95 season on loan at Genoa before returning to Milan in the summer but the next year he found playing time harder to come by.

“Competition makes for a better product in any market and the same goes for football, where the coach benefits. We played two in midfield and in all honesty there was no comparison between me and [Paul] Ince."

Having come through the Nerazzurri youth ranks and gone on to play for the first team, Manicone returned to the academy as a coach after hanging up his boots.

“The Inter shirt is like a second skin to me. I was given the chance to coach some of the Inter kids and I have [Giacinto] Facchetti to thank for that. It was a great experience – I couldn't have asked for anything more.”

Manicone now works as Vladimir Petkovic's assistant coach for Switzerland but previously coached Antonio Candreva at Lazio.

“He's an extraordinary player who - fortunately for Inter - now plays for the Nerazzurri. Even back then he had fantastic potential and he became an even better player while at Lazio. He works hard to improve every day and deserves everything he gets.”