Thursday April 4, 2007

Inter and respect – it’s a difficult combination. Take the last 12 months – the Nerazzurri emerge as the victims of a massive and concerted match-influencing operation, and many react by accusing them of fixing the whole scandal themselves. Then they dominate the domestic season on their way to a second straight Scudetto, only for some commentators to write it off as the fruit of a peculiarly weakened field.

Now, the publication this week of the Naples police’s evidence in the Calciopoli scandal has once again rubbished the first idea. The evidence against Luciano Moggi is comprehensive and comes from a front-line anti-mafia force, not Massimo Moratti’s private eyes. However, Inter’s second credibility issue – that they’re only tops ‘cos it’s a Serie A lite – is harder to resolve, and for that they’ve only themselves to blame.

Inter have had a massive lead for so long that we’ve almost stopped noticing it. What sticks in the mind instead are the more recent disappointments – like the quarter-final exit from the Champion’s League, the tournament that was supposed to have proved they didn’t need a weakened field to win. Or this Wednesday’s game with Roma, in which they blew what was supposed to have been their big title winning party – just like they did last time they were heading for the title, remember, in that infamous final day defeat to Lazio in 2002. Bang goes their unbeaten record, and a large slice of credibility with it. If Roma – smashed 7-1 in Manchester just a week before – can win the big game at the San Siro, just how strong can Inter be?

On another note, it’s amazing how many were surprised in Italy at not being awarded the right to host Euro 2012. After a massive corruption scandal and fan violence problems, not to mention scenes of their police laying into supine fans broadcast worldwide, what were they expecting? Personally, I’d say this cloud has a very large silver lining – too many folk in the Italian game were touting the Euro bonanza as a cure-all for their problems, particularly in modernizing the stadiums. Losing out to Ukraine/Poland means for once they may have to face up to the situation and deal with it themselves.