Inter Podcast: SuperCoppa preview

The official Inter Podcast in English is back and Richard Hall and Thomas Lawrence look forward to the SuperCoppa at the Giuseppe Meazza. The boys talk about the dramatic and important win against Lazio, they touch on the crazy Roma v Juventus game and there is, as always, nostalgia. They look back at the SuperCoppa Final of 2005 where Juventus also faced the Nerazzurri and they speak to Matteo Darmian about his feelings before the big game. As always, there are also listener questions, so make sure you download and tune it.

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Context is important and the SuperCoppa of 2005 and plenty of it. Scudetto winners Juventus (although this was later stripped) stormed to the title in 2004/05, they finished with 86 points, seven clear of Milan and 14 points ahead of Inter. It seemed as though with the squad they had, this was going to be tough to beat the season afterwards. Inter had won the Coppa Italia that season (3-0 over two legs against Roma) and in turn would play ‘The Old Lady’ in the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin in August of that year.

Nostalgia is beautiful because it allows us to look back at football with rose tinted glasses but it also gives us a tinge of regret. When you look back at the line ups of those yester years you are compelled to admit to yourself that you never really appreciated what you had at the time. The Nerazzurri were made up of an incredible South American contingent that enveloped Italians, Francesco Toldo, Marco Materazzi and Giuseppe Favalli. They boasted the likes of Javier Zanetti, Juan Sebastian Veron, Esteban Cambiasso and the incredible Adriano. Amazingly, the likes of Julio Cesar, Alvaro Recoba, David Pizarro and Walter Samuel were on the bench. There were even more from the America’s in the squad that gave it a cultured feel.

Juventus were in an era of superstars also and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet were complimented by the likes of Fabio Cannavaro and Patrick Vieira, Alessandro Del Piero was on the bench whilst perhaps the weak link was Antonio Chimenti in goal. Fabio Capello would still have been confident of beating Roberto Mancini’s team and what would follow would be a hard fought and yet exciting final that saw the baton get passed. As mentioned earlier, context is important and this was one of the games that signalled the end of an era for the Bianconeri and arguably this was the basis of the 2010 Treble winning Inter side.

The rain fell as the game kicked off but this was to be no damp affair. After only four minutes Adriano had the ball in the back of the net as he coolly headed home but he was adjudged to have fouled in the build-up and the game remained level. Juventus dug deep and despite being under heavy pressure they created the next major chance of the game, Mauro Camoranesi crossed deep to Ibrahimovic but his header went back across goal and failed to find a man in the middle. This buoyed ‘The Old Lady’ and they had a goal ruled out just before the break as Trezeguet slotted passed Toldo but this was flagged offside.

The second half also had its moments as Obafemi Martins had reason to shout for a penalty and the Bianconeri missed from close range. The game would go to extra time. It was here on the 95th minute that a long ball from deep found Adriano, he had been workman like all game, defensively effective, offensively menacing and it was now that he showed his quality, holding the ball up and laying off an incoming Juan Sebastian Veron who drilled the ball low passed Chimenti for the winning goal.

Juventus nearly levelled at the end as confusion in the Inter box saw the ball rolling towards the goal line but it was Adriano of all people who was there to clear off the line. Javier Zanetti lifted the trophy and little did Inter fans or the players know that this was the changing of the guard. Inter will be hoping that on Wednesday that they can put another marker in the sand against the men from Turin and in turn allow Simone Inzaghi to get his hands on his first Inter trophy.

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