Inter Milan
FC Internazionale Milano, commonly known as Internazionale Milano (pronounced [ˌinternattsjoˈnaːle]) or simply Inter Milan and in English-speaking countries,[8][9] is an Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy. professional football club. Since its debut in 1909, Inter Milan is the only Italian team to have played consistently in the top tier of Italian football.
Inter Milan was formed in 1908 following the split of Milan cricket and football clubs (now AC Milan) and won its first championship in 1910. Since its inception, the club has won 34 national trophies, including 19 league titles, 8 Italian Cups and 7 Italian Super Cups. From 2006 to 2010, the club won five consecutive league championships, tying the record at the time. They have won the Champions League three times: back-to-back in 1964 and 1965 and again in 2010. Their latest victory completed an unprecedented Italian treble this season, with Inter winning the Coppa Italia and the Scudetto in the same year] The club also won three UEFA trophies, two World Cup titles and a FIFA Champion of the Club World Cup.
Inter Milan’s home game is played at the San Siro Stadium, and they play against their city rivals Milan. The stadium is the largest football stadium in Italy with a capacity of 75,923. [12] They have a longstanding rivalry with Milan, with whom they played in the Derby della Madonnina, and with Juventus in the Derby d’Italia; their rivalry with the former is one of the most followed derbies in football . As of 2019, Inter Milan’s home attendance ranks first in Italy and sixth in Europe. The club is one of the most valuable in Italian and world football.
The club was formed as International Football Club on 9 March 1908 after parting ways with Milan Cricket and Football Club (now AC Milan). The club takes its name from the desire of its founding members to fully accommodate foreign players alongside the Italians.
The club won its first championship in 1910 and its second in 1920. The captain and coach of the first winning team was Virgilio Fossati, who was later killed while serving in the Italian Army in World War I. In 1922, Inter faced the threat of relegation to Serie B, but remained in the top flight after winning two play-offs.
Six years later, in the fascist era, the club had to merge with Unione Sportiva Milanese and change its name to Società Sportiva Ambrosiana. [17] In the 1928/29 season, the team wore a white jersey with a red cross on it. The design of the jersey is inspired by the flag and coat of arms of Milan. In 1929, the club’s new president Oreste Simonotti changed the club’s name to Associazione Sportiva Ambrosiana and restored the previous black and blue jersey. However, supporters continued to refer to the team as Inter Milan, and in 1931, new president Bozzani bowed to shareholder pressure and changed the name to the Inter Sporting Association.
They won the Coppa Italia for the first time in the 1938/39 season, led by the legendary Giuseppe Meazza, after whom the San Siro stadium is officially named. A fifth title followed in 1940, despite an injury to Meazza. After World War II, the club returned to its original name and won its sixth championship in 1953 and its seventh in 1954.
Inter Milan (1960–1967)
In 1960, manager Helenio Herrera joined Inter Milan from Barcelona, bringing with him midfielder Luis Suarez, who was dropped that same year for his role in Barcelona’s double La Liga/Fair Cup. Named Barcelona’s European Footballer of the Year. He will turn Inter Milan into one of the greatest teams in Europe. He modified a 5-3-2 tactic called “verrou” (“the latch”) to create greater flexibility for counterattacks. The catenaccio system was invented by Austrian trainer Karl Rappan. Lapan’s original system was a strict man-to-man defense with four solid defenders, plus a midfield playmaker and two midfield wingers. Herrera would modify it by adding a fifth defender, sweeper or libero behind the two centre-backs. A sweeper or libero as a libero will deal with any attacking player who passes through the two centre-backs. Inter Milan won the third place in Serie A in his first season, the second place in the second year, and the Serie A championship in the third season. Back-to-back European victories followed in 1964 and 1965, earning him the title “il Mago” (“The Magician”). At the heart of Herrera’s team are attacking full-backs Tarcisio Brnic and Jacinto Facchetti, sweeper Armando Picchi, midfield playmaker Suarez, winger Jayer, left Mario Corso in midfield and Sandro Mazzola on the right. [ 18] 19][20][21][22][23] Sandro Mazzola played for the hugely successful Inter Milan in the 1960s, a team known as ‘The Great Inter’
In 1964, Inter Milan defeated Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals and Partizan in the quarter-finals to reach the final of the European Cup. In the final, they met Real Madrid, a team that has reached seven of nine finals. Mazzola scored twice to win 3-1, and the team then won the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. A year later, Inter repeated the feat, beating two-time champions Benfica at home in the final thanks to a goal from Jair, before beating Independiente again in the Intercontinental Cup. In 1967, due to Suarez’s injury, Inter Milan lost 2-1 to Celtic in the European Cup final. That year the club changed its name to Inter Milan.
After a golden age in the 1960s, Inter won their 11th and 12th Scudetto in 1971 and 1980. Inter Milan was defeated in the European Cup final for the second time in five years, 2-0 to Johan Cruyff Ajax in 1972. In the 1970s and 80s, Inter Milan added two more – 82.
Hansi Müller (1975-1982 VfB Stuttgart, 1982-1984 Inter Milan) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1974-1984 Bayern Munich, 1984-1987 Inter Milan) played for Inter Milan. Inter won the Serie A title in 1989, led by German duo Andreas Bremmer and Lothar Matthaus and Argentinian Ramon Dias. Inter Milan failed to defend the title despite the addition of fellow German Jurgen Klinsmann to the squad, which had won his first Super Cup with the Italian earlier in the season.
The 1990s were disappointing times. While their arch-rivals Milan and Juventus enjoyed domestic and European success, Inter fell behind in the domestic league table and were repeatedly underwhelming, with their worst results coming in 1993/94, when they fell just behind relegation Distinguished. Nonetheless, they enjoyed moderate European success in three UEFA Cup appearances in 1991, 1994 and 1998.
With the acquisition of Massimo Moratti from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995, Inter Milan broke the transfer world record twice during this period (Ronaldo £19.5m for Barcelona in 1997, £19.5m for Ronaldo two years later). Lazio’s Christian Vieri £31m). [24] However, the 1990s remained the only decade in the history of Inter Milan that did not win a Serie A title. It is difficult for Inter Milan fans to attribute the blame to the troubled times, leading to a somewhat cold relationship between them and the chairman, manager and even some players.
Moratti later became a target for fans, especially after he sacked popular coach Luigi Simeone after only a few games in the 1998/99 season, and just the day before he was sacked, he won the 1998 Italian Coach of the Year Award. This season, Inter Milan failed to qualify for the European War for the first time in the past ten years and only ranked eighth.
The following season, Moratti appointed former Juventus coach Marcelo Lippi and signed players such as Angelo Peruzzi and Laurent Blanco, as well as ex-Juventus players Vieri and Vladimir Yugovic. The team came close to their first domestic success since 1989, when they reached the Coppa Italia final, where they were beaten by Lazio.
Inter’s misfortunes continued into the following season, when they lost 4-3 to Lazio in the 2000 Italian Super Cup after initially taking the lead through new signing Robbie Keane. They were also knocked out by Swedish club IF Helsingborg in the Champions League preliminaries, with Alvaro Recoba missing a crucial penalty. After Inter Milan’s first Serie A loss to Reggina, Lippi was fired after just one game in the new season. Marco Tardelli, chosen to replace Lippi, failed to improve and will be remembered by Inter fans as the man who lost 6-0 to Milan in the city derby. Other members of the Inter “family” who suffered during this period were Vieri and Fabio Cannavaro, whose restaurant in Milan was destroyed after the loss to the Rossoneri.
In 2002, not only did Inter reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, but they also had to hold on to a one-goal lead away from Lazio with 45 minutes left in the league title. After just 24 minutes, Inter took a 2-1 lead. Lazio equalized in first-half injury time before scoring twice in the second half to seal the victory that ultimately allowed Juventus to lift the league title. The following season, Inter were runners-up and played against Milan in the 2002/03 Champions League semi-finals, but lost on away goals.
On July 8, 2004, Inter Milan appointed former Lazio coach Roberto Mancini as their new head coach. In the debut season, the team had 18 wins, 18 draws and only 2 losses with 72 points, and won the Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup. On May 11, 2006, Inter Milan defeated Roma 4-1 on aggregate (Rome 1-1, San Siro 3-1) and then defended the Coppa Italia title again.
Inter retroactively won the 2005-06 Serie A title after defending champions Juventus were relegated and Milan were stripped of points in the Calciopoli scandal. In the following season, Inter Milan continued to maintain the record of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A, starting with a 4-1 home game against Livorno on September 25, 2006, and ending with a 1-1 home draw with Udine on February 28, 2007 end. On 22 April 2007, Inter beat Siena 2-1 at the Artemio Franchi Stadium to win the league for the second time in a row – and for the first time since 1989. Italian world champion defender Marco Materazzi scored twice. [25]
Inter’s goal at the start of the 2007/08 season was to win both Serie A and the Champions League. The team started well in the league, topping the standings from the first round, and also successfully advanced to the Champions League knockout round. A 2-0 ten-man defeat in the Champions League on February 19 led to doubts over manager Roberto Mancini’s future at Inter Milan, while domestic form took hold as the team failed to win their next three Serie A games. After being eliminated by Liverpool in the Champions League, Mancini announced his intention to resign immediately, but changed his mind the next day. On the final day of the 2007/08 Serie A season, Inter traveled to Parma, with Ibrahimovic’s two goals securing their third league title. However, Mancini was sacked shortly after announcing his departure from the club.
Inter fans at the 2010 UEFA Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu. By winning the final, Inter Milan became the first Italian team to win the treble, while also winning the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia.
On June 2, 2008, Inter Milan appointed former Porto and Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho as their new head coach. [27] In his debut season, the Nerazzurri won the Italian Super Cup and won the fourth consecutive championship, but missed the Champions League for the third consecutive time in the first knockout round, losing to the finalist Manchester United. By winning the Scudetto, Inter became the first club in 60 years to win the Scudetto for a fourth consecutive year, the only club to achieve this feat after Torino and Juventus, and the first club outside of Turin club.
Inter won the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League, beating defending champions Barcelona in the semi-finals before beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final thanks to two goals from Diego Milito. Inter Milan also won the 2009-10 Serie A title with a two-point advantage over Roma, and won the 2010 Coppa Italia by beating Roma 1-0 in the final. This made Inter Milan the first Italian team to win the treble. [30] At the end of the season, Mourinho left the club to coach Real Madrid;[31] he was replaced by Rafael Benitez.
On 21 August 2010, Inter beat Roma 3-1 to win the 2010 Italian Super Cup, their fourth trophy of the year. In December 2010, they defeated TP Mazembe 3-0 in the final and won the Club World Cup for the first time. [32] However, after that victory, on December 23, 2010, due to their declining performance in Serie A, the team fired Benitez. He was replaced by Leonardo the next day. [34]
Leonardo started 12 games and scored 30 points, averaging 2.5 points more than his predecessors Benitez and Mourinho. On March 6, 2011, Leonardo set a new Italian Serie A record with 33 points in 13 games. The previous record was Capello’s 32 points in 13 games in the 2004/05 season. Leonardo led the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and led them to the Coppa Italia before losing to Schalke 04. However, he resigned at the end of the season and was succeeded by new coaches Gian Piero Gasperini, Claudio Ranieri and Andrea Stramaccioni, all of whom were hired the following season.
