Inter, a smile from Istanbul for Mancini and the national team – Football

ISTANBUL – Between the formation of the 2010 Treble and this one in 2023 there are not only 13 years of distance. The one of Mourinho, a cosmopolitan coach but also deeply and proudly Portuguese, she was all foreign, International in fact. Four Argentines: Samuel, Zanetti, Cambiasso and Milito. Three Brazilians: Julio Cesar, Maicon and Lucio. A Romanian: Chivu. A Dutchman: Sneijder. A Cameroonian: Eto’o. And a Macedonian: Pandev. Halfway through the second half, the Serbian Stankovic came on for Chivu and the Ghanaian Muntari for Pandev in the final quarter of an hour. The only Italian Materazziregistered in the historic scoreboard in the first minute of recovery, offering the runway to the hombre del partido Milito and earning the runway himself.

Inzaghi makes Mancini smile

This time not, this time the majority was Italian, and the turning point was quite epochal, because that Inter treble marked the beginning of a long period of abstinence for the Italian teams in the cups, interrupted last year by the Conference of Rome (of Mourinho, everything is held), and instead this season has marked the rebirth of Serie A in Europe, with three finalists, one for each cup, and five semi-finalists. The starting lineup lined up against the Manchester City by the very Italian Simone Inzaghi from Piacenza made Mancini smile, already forerunner of the winning cycle of the Emirate-owned City but also and above all coach of the national team champion of Europe in 2021. Five Italians, in fact, that is, almost all of the defense. The central trio: Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni and left winger Dimarco. Plus the ubiquitous midfielder: Barella. Foreigners are the minority, although certainly qualified. Cameroonian goalkeeper Onana. The Dutch outside Dumfries. Croatian director Brozovic. The Turkish polymath, Çalhanoglu is a prophet in his homeland. Bosnian veteran Dzeko. And of course Lautaro Martinez, the heir to the Argentine tradition.

A lot of Inter in the Under 20

Even on the bench, the Italian representation was large: D’Ambrosio, Gagliardini and Bellanova, plus the third goalkeeper Cordaz. Inter, moreover, is also contributing to the Italian Under 20’s feat at the Argentina World Cup, having provided Nunziata with defenders Fontanarosa and Zanotti and forward Esposito, brother in art. The protagonist Casadei also comes from the Inter academy, then sold to Chelsea for greater budgetary needs and loaned from Chelsea to Reading. But if a new era has begun, it is certainly partly thanks to the International, perhaps more autochthonous also for economic reasons. And the symbolic match is this Champions League final, in which for years – practically since 2007 in Athens, when AC Milan player Pippo Inzaghi, Simone’s brother, signed the revenge of the Istanbul prank with Liverpoo – Italian players had been sporadic extras.