Inter - Bayern Munich (22 May 10)

When Jose Mourinho and Inter ruled the world - a zenith neither have come close to since
22 May 2010: The Nerazzurri won the Champions League final on this day 10 years ago in what many regard as Mourinho's greatest triumph

In the wake of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, with Juventus relegated and AC Milan shamed, Inter dominated Italian football, winning three titles in a row between 2006 and 2008 - but that was not enough for owner Massimo Moratti.

A first Champions League in almost half a century was all that mattered, with Roberto Mancini’s successful, if somewhat turbulent, tenure succeeded by Jose Mourinho. Nobody could have foreseen just how spectacularly justified that decision would turn out to be as a bold and brash Mourinho steered Inter to the treble, completed with victory over Bayern in the Champions League final exactly a decade ago to the day.

Inter remain the only Italian side to have achieved such a feat, but since, they have not won a single Scudetto and Mourinho, one of the most decorated managers of all time, has claimed just two league titles in the last 10 years – 2010 represented a team and a coach at the peak of their powers, a zenith neither have come close to touching again.

“We met at Benfica and my admiration for him started then,” Jose Morais, one of Mourinho’s assistants at Chelsea, Inter and then Real Madrid, tells i.

“He won the Champions League with Porto, who weren’t the best team in Europe, but he did not have to win a tough league like Serie A with Porto. His energy was amazing, and the hungry Inter team responded to everything he said. Nothing could distract him back then.

“That 2010 season we carry with us forever, no matter what has gone on since. Not many can say they have been part of history like that.”

In the four seasons prior to the 2010 triumph, Inter, for all their domestic superiority, struggled on the continent. A great team needed something more, and when star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic left for Barcelona in the summer of 2009, it appeared Ol’ Big Ears would remain out of reach.

Mourinho had other ideas and brought in World Cup winner Lucio to add pace at the back, Wesley Sneijder to improve the ingenuity in midfield, and offset Ibrahmovic’s departure with the acquisition of Samuel Eto’o as part of the same deal and two often unheralded signings of Diego Milito and Goran Pandev.

None of these players were young and unproven. Along with some seasoned pros already at the club, they knew they had to settle quick and start firing - they did just that, and some.

“Mourinho was creating this drive towards the Champions League, making the players believe they could do it,” Morais says. “The leadership of Mourinho held everything together. We all felt with him we could win everything. We trusted him with the knowledge that he has. When things went wrong in a game, we knew he would come to us with a solution.

“For some players like Marco Materazzi, Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel and Dejan Stankovic, it really was their last chance, and Mourinho reminded them it was their time to leave a stamp on the game.

“Against Barcelona, this was the time for these players to put everything they had had into it.”

That Champions League semi-final with Barcelona - the holders and considered the greatest team of all time by some - was the type of moment Mourinho relished.

When Barcelona needed a replacement for Frank Rijkaard in 2008, Mourinho looked primed and ready to step in, but the Barça hierarchy were not too enamoured with his style of play and opted for rookie Pep Guardiola instead.

"The Translator", as Mourinho was cruelly dubbed in homage to his time under Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal at Barcelona, was not going to let the opportunity to prove his former employers wrong pass him by, with Inter storming back from a goal down to win 3-1 in the first leg, before the famous defensive effort in the Nou Camp two weeks later booked their place in the final.

“We had played Barcelona in the group stages, so we knew each other,” Morais continues. “We had held them to a goalless draw in the Nou Camp in the first group game.

“After we lost Thiago Motta [sent off inside 30 minutes of the second leg] Jose stabilised us. The players would die for him
and they put their bodies on the line. It was effort like I had never seen.”

Barcelona managed just one goal, with Inter progressing 3-2 of aggregate. The celebratory scenes were unmistakably Mourinho, in the face of those who doubted him, before a 2-0 win over Bayern in the final wrote his and Inter’s name into European folklore.

That is as good as it got for Inter. The ageing squad departed one by one, with others never reaching the same performance levels again.

“Inter fans here mention it every 10 seconds,” says journalist and broadcaster Sheridan Bird, who lives in Milan. “Partly as it has been extremely slim pickings since.

“The main reason they go on about [the treble] so much is that Juventus haven’t done it. They’ve had several attempts, two recently, but never done it. [AC] Milan have more European Cups, but haven’t won the treble. Even Real Madrid have never done it.

“Mourinho is respected in Italy, and loved still by Inter fans. He has not been back to Italy yet to damage his reputation. Leaving after a treble was perfect – he knew he had taken that team as far as he could.”

Real Madrid beckoned for Mourinho, as the feud with Barcelona continued. Knocking Guardiola and Barça off their La Liga perch in 2012 was sweet, but as Guardiola has gone on to win titles in three countries, Mourinho, by his high standards, has stagnated.

There is still time for Mourinho to return to his unrelenting best, but, reminding his adversaries he has achieved something they never have will always remain an option.

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DiegoMilito22 said:

13 years ago on this day ....

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