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Blog: Under Siege
James Horncastle reveals why he believes Inter go into this week’s Champions League clash with Chelsea in the right frame of mind
Indestructible is how La Gazzetta dello Sport described Inter on Sunday morning. Il Corriere dello Sport went even further. “A surreal game that Inter always controlled with 11, 10 and then nine men… It’s as if instead of Samp there was already Chelsea in front of them.”
Much of what has been said over the last week has been ‘exaggerated’ and ‘over-excited’, but there is a genuine sense that Inter go into Wednesday’s Champions League clash in just the right frame of mind.
Jose Mourinho’s side might not have won their last three games. They might have failed to score in their last two. If we look back at the history books, Inter are actually four points worse off than they were this time last year. They had a nine-point lead on second placed Juventus in February 2009. Right now, it’s a tad shorter, at just five points, prompting some to tip Roma, who have won their last seven games in Serie A, not simply as pretenders, but genuine title contenders.
So, on the face of it, the glass looks half empty ahead of Chelsea’s visit to San Siro. But it shouldn’t. In the past decade, only two clubs have lifted the Champions League while dominating their domestic championship – Barcelona won by 12 points in 2006 and nine points in 2009. Mourinho’s Porto won by eight in 2004. It’s a rare phenomenon, partly because teams that coast to success on the domestic front lack the battle readiness to compete against comparable teams on the continent. They have it too easy for too long.
In six of the other seasons, a team who didn’t wrap up the League until the final day has won the Champions League – see Manchester United in 1999 and 2008, and Bayern Munich in 2001. So perhaps it’s a good thing Inter are being run closer in Serie A this season. The players may be tired, especially after playing with nine men for nearly an hour against Sampdoria, but they are on their toes and can’t afford to take their foot off the gas. By the same token, nor can Chelsea.
What’s more, as Massimo Moratti hinted yesterday, managing not to lose while at a clear if self-inflicted disadvantage can give the players a psychological boost. Inter have played over 180 minutes in numerical inferiority this season – that’s more than two entire games - and they haven’t lost once. In fact they have either preserved or improved upon their result in all but one of the five occasions a player in Nerazzurro has been sent off this season.
Character-wise, Inter have shown a marked improvement under Mourinho. They may have won just two Champions League matches under his tutelage this season, but Inter – especially in Italy but not uniquely – never know when they are beaten.
The Nerazzurri have come from behind eight times this year, scoring seven goals in the last 10 minutes – two of those being key equalisers, five being winners. They turned matches around from losing to winning positions against Cagliari, Kiev, Bari and Siena in four, three, five and three minutes, utterly demoralising their opponents.
And if there is a neurosis about winning the Champions League for the first time in 45 years, surely the sense of injustice Mourinho conjured over the last week will prevail over a longstanding fear of failure on the continent. It might not be enough to beat Chelsea, but Inter have certainly shown that they have a fighting chance.
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The title reminds of the Steven Segal movie "Under Siege"