Wednesday January 24, 2007

Next stop, the Marassi. Having won 13 games on the trot, this weekend Inter must be odds on favourites to smash poor old Roma’s 11 game record even further this in Genoa. Back at the start of the season I remember Sampdoria springing a surprise 1-1 draw on the Nerazzurri at the San Siro, but that was before Roberto Mancini’s side had fully coalesced into the cast-iron juggernaut we are seeing now. Think back – has there been an away fixture to trouble them yet?

Inter have waited so long for days like these, but the sad thing for their fans is that all the many records they look like setting this season – like their 11 point margin over second place after 20 rounds – look like always carrying the stigma of a weakened field. Rather like Bob Beamon’s long jump record in the altitude of Mexico City, they’ll have an invisible asterisk against them denoting ‘achieved thanks to unique local conditions’.

One thing, however, can save this vintage Inter from being written off as a big fish in a small pond, and that’s the Champions League. No quibbles or qualifications are possible about the quality of the opposition they face in Europe this season.

Their group was one of the toughest and after the early season jitters here too, they turned it around in magnificent fashion by hitting back with three straight victories against Sporting Lisbon and CSKA Moscow. The impression is they could have won their final match at Bayern Munich too had they been bothered, but as it is the draw there marks they only time that the Beneamati haven’t won in their last 20 fixtures.

Next up Inter must face one of the most in-form teams in Europe, Valencia, themselves winners of their last six fixtures in La Liga. The away game will carry uncomfortable memories for the Nerazzurri, for a year ago it was just outside Valencia in Villarreal that their last campaign collapsed in a disappointing defeat that was followed by scenes of violence on their return home to Malpensa airport.

Still, Inter are now living up to their pre-season billing by Jose Mourinho as the strongest squad in Europe, and it’s hard to think of many sides playing with the style and confidence they’ve shown of late. The changing room atmosphere – for so long the club’s weak point – is finally better too, as evidenced by Roberto Mancini and Massimo Moratti’s deft handling of Adriano’s long running crisis.

Two years ago it was a gem of a game from the Brazilian that sparked Inter’s 5-1 win at Valencia. Should they come up with a similar performance this time, and perhaps even go on to the final, there’d be little room left for the doubters. And that would be great for not just Inter’s fans, but the Italian game in general.