Squandered: Inter's wasted Champions League campaign
- Anthony Privetera
Am I talking about the chances against Barcelona? Not really.
The “Pazza Inter” mentality was meant to be eradicated under Antonio Conte. It looked promising early in the league and the first Champions League game was eagerly anticipated by every Inter supporter. The prospect of facing a perceived weak opponent – Slavia Praha, at home – was mouth watering.
Chance #1 (Slavia Praha) – Missed.
Unfortunately – we know what happened, in true Pazza fashion our first Champions League game ended 1-1, setting the tone for the rest of the group stages. To make things worse, Dortmund managed to get a draw at home versus Barca. At this stage we were already seen as being less likely to progress than Dortmund, with Barcelona always looking to top the group.
Match day 2: Barcelona Away. Our most dreaded match up.
What a first half! Against all odds we manage a first half 0 – 1 lead. Then in the second half, a different team returned to the pitch. Almost matching Dortmund’s match day 1 result of a draw.
Chance #2 (Win vs. Barcelona) – Missed
Just when it couldnt get any worse after Suarez’s 58′ goal – he would repeat the same at the 84′ min. Game over. Another point thrown down the drain. Dortmund gets another one up on us and cruises past Slavia 0-2 Away.
Chance #3 (Draw vs. Barcelona) – Missed
Match Day 3: Dortmund at Home. Chance at redemption in a head to head for 2nd place?
Thanks to the gods for this one. A critical 2-0 win at home to give us any chance of progressing. Other news: Barca beats Slavia. There is still hope!
Chance #4 (Win vs. Dortmund) – FINALLY TAKEN!
Match Day 4: Dortmund Away
This to me is where “Pazza Inter” was well and truly back. A 0-2 half time lead to give us 3 crucial points versus our direct competition for qualification squandered by conceding 3 second half goals. The team was completely asleep. 6 point turnaround.
Chance #5 (Win vs. Dortmund) – Missed
Match Day 5: (Slavia Away)
We make things hard for ourselves. The win wasn’t as comfortable as the scoreline would suggest. Inter did their thing again and had our heart racing, ultimately giving us a glimmer of hope. At the end of this matchday all we needed to do was match Dortmund’s Day 6 result – no problems. But wait… against Barca? Well it was nice while it lasted.
Chance – Not existent as we should’ve been Slavia regardless.
Match Day 6: (Barcelona at Home) We all knew what was going to happen.
Too fresh to talk about it. Squandered goal chances, had the chance to make something out of it. Needed a win to progress. Really we should have had it wrapped up before this.
Welcome back to reality. I really hoped we had a chance, we can sit back and blame injuries but really we should’ve done better against Barca’s B team. I’ll let you read one of the other Inter Worldwide match reviews if you want the low down on the match.
Ultimately – we can’t leave it to the final match day against one of the toughest opponents in European football. Our elimination from this tournament commenced months ago and the rest was almost inevitable.
But hey…. Maybe things will chance in the January mercato and we’ll get somewhere in Europe league?
For more news visit our homepage