The Golazzo Collection, part three: Inter – the Emperor, the choke and the tripleta
It’s ten years this week since Inter won the only treble in Italian football history, so the latest edition of our Golazzo collection looks at them. There is of course the episode on that tripleta, one at the other end of the glory scale as they calamitously choke on the final day of the season in 2002, then there are some of the characters that have made such an impact on Inter: Adriano, Vieri, Recoba, Materazzi.
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Part one: Italian football’s mavericks.
Part two: Serie A icons from the 1990s
Inter’s tripleta
We examine the last Italian club to win the Champions League – and the only one to do the treble – Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan. The Nerazzurri lost Zlatan but bought full-back Samuel Eto’o and an unwanted Wesley Sneijder, stumbling on the perfect formula for success. With the help of a volcano. This is the story of perhaps Mourinho’s finest hour, a season that ended with him in Real Madrid’s limo.
FEATURE: Inter 0-0 Sampdoria, 2010: the game Jose Mourinho can draw from for success at Spurs
5th May 2002 – the Inter bottlejob?
With a first Serie A title in 13 years on the horizon, Inter entered the day top of the table and finished it 3rd. It was a day when Lazio fans were supporting Inter, hoping that Juventus wouldn’t be champions and desperate for rivals Roma not to retain their crown. But Ronaldo’s last game for the Nerazzurri ended in tears as Hector Cuper’s Inter conspired to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
All hail Emperor Adriano
We look back at the life and times of your favourite player if you had Pro Evo during its pomp – Inter and Brazil’s Adriano. The man known as the Emperor had enough talent to impress Ibra and possibly the most powerful shot the game has seen. We chart the story of his rise and the tragic circumstances behind his fall.
FEATURE: Inter v Udinese, 2004 – Adriano reaches his magnificent, brief peak
Alvaro Recoba – waster or wunderkind?
In a team containing Ronaldo, Zamorano and Djorkaeff, Uruguayan striker Alvaro Recoba was the man who Inter owner Massimo Moratti described as ‘quite simply football’. Or to look at it from a less favourable point of view, was Recoba the biggest underachiever in the history of Serie A? He hated training but he loved to score direct from corners. It’s a story that features fishing, Pro Evo and Princess Diana.
FEATURE: Inter v Empoli, 2007: the last dance of Alvaro Recoba
Contrary Vieri
Jimbo, James Horncastle and Gab Marcotti look back at Bobo – Christian Vieri – the grumpiest striker in Serie A. Currently enjoying life as a DJ, and having admitted he would have been happier playing cricket in his former home of Australia, Vieri wasn’t exactly a bad footballer. One of Italy’s all-time great strikers and a top scorer in Serie A and La Liga. Bobo liked to score on and off the pitch but ended his career living with his mother. He made his way through plenty of clubs. 9 in 9 years to be exact. And heaven knows how many nightclubs.
Materazzi: A true underdog story
Some know him as the Matrix, some (in France) know him as the most hated man in football. Jimbo, James Horncastle and Gab Marcotti review the life and times of Marco Materazzi. Derided by many as a red card or a penalty waiting to happen, Materazzi ended his career as a World Cup and treble winner. We all know what happened with Zidane, but in this Golazzo, with the help of former Everton team-mate Don Hutchison, we examine the man behind the Materazzi myth.
Trapattoni at 80 – part one
Jimbo, James Horncastle and Gab Marcotti pay tribute to the most successful club manager in the history of the game – Giovanni Trapattoni. In the first of a two-part special, we look back at Trapattoni’s playing career, his legend built on a performance v Pele, as well as the start of his management career in Serie A, a career that began at 35 managing giants of Italian football.
Trapattoni at 80 – part two of two
Jimbo, James Horncastle and Gab Marcotti discuss Trap’s time at Bayern, Fiorentina, Italy and Ireland amongst others. Which means biscuits, Edmundo and Strunz!
Derby d’Italia: Juventus v Inter
The Derby d’italia: Juventus vs Inter, featuring the classic 1998 encounter at the Stadio delle Alpi.
A wild night in Rome
We turn back the clock to May 1999 to relive a remarkable 5-4 win for Inter at Roma – a game featuring a who’s who of 90s football icons (and Mikaël Silvestre).
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