F.C. INTERNAZIONALE MILANO

Play at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium (commonly known as the San Siro) in Milan. Their shirts are blue and black stripes (hence the nickname "nerazzurri") and the rest of the kit is black. Inter have never been relegated from Serie A, a record held jointly with Juventus.


President

Giacinto FACCHETTI (member of the all-conquering Inter team of the ‘60s – fabulous full back – now the figurehead at the club, since the owner decided being President was an ungrateful job)


Owner

Massimo MORATTI (son of the late Angelo MORATTI, respected President of the all-conquering Inter team of the ‘60s)


Director of Football (in Inter-speak, Direttore Tecnico)

Marco BRANCA, former striker who also played for Inter.


Manager

Roberto MANCINI


Squad

Goalkeepers

Alex CORDAZ (’83)
Alberto FONTANA (’67)
Francesco TOLDO (’71)


Defenders

Nicolas BURDISSO (’81) – from Boca Juniors
Francesco COCO (’77)
Ivan CORDOBA (’76)
Giuseppe FAVALLI (’72) – from Lazio
Carlos Alberto GAMARRA (’71)
Marco MATERAZZI (’73)
Sinisa MIHAJLOVIC (’69) – from Lazio
Giovanni PASQUALE (’82)
Javier ZANETTI (’73)
ZE’ MARIA (’73) – from Perugina


Midfielders

Esteban CAMBIASSO (’80) – from Real Madrid
Edgar DAVIDS (’73) – from Barcelona
Belozoglu EMRE (’80)
Giorgos KARAGOUNIS (’77)
KILY GONZALES (’74)
Mario REBECCHI (’83) – from Genoa
Dejan STANKOVIC (’78)
Andy VAN DER MEYDE (’79)
Juan Sebastian VERON (’75) – from Chelsea
Cristiano ZANETTI (’77)


Forwards

ADRIANO (’82)
Lampros CHOUTOS (’79) – from Panathinaikos
Julio CRUZ (’74)
Obafemi MARTINS (’84)
Alvaro RECOBA (’76)
Christian VIERI (’73)

Remarks

Fabian CARINI, goalkeeper, to join in January 2005 as part exchange for selling Fabio CANNAVARO to Juventus.


Players sold/released/loaned

BIAVA to Ternana, defender
BRECHET to Real Sociedad, defender
CANNAVARO to Juventus, defender
HELVEG to Norwich, defender
NOSSA to Vicenza, defender
SORONDO to Crystal Palace, defender

ALMEYDA to Brescia, midfielder
LAMOUCHI to Genoa, midfielder
OKAN to Besiktas, midfielder

ELIAKWU to Ascoli, forward
KALLON to Monaco, forward
VENTOLA to Crystal Palace, forward


How they’ll play

Roberto Mancini will elect to play a 4-4-2, though he hasn’t been able to reinforce the wings as much as he’d have liked (he was after CESAR from his former club Lazio, but the deal broke down at the eleventh hour).

I expect the First XI to look something like this:

Toldo

Ze’ Maria – Materazzi – Mihajlovic – Favalli

Van der Meyde – Veron – Davids – Stankovic

Vieri – Adriano


The centre of defence looks weak and the sale of Fabio Cannavaro to Juventus was met with disappointment by Mancini. In other areas of the pitch, Inter have got quality back up players, like club captain J. Zanetti for the right flank (both defence and midfield), Kily Gonzales, Emre or even Recoba for left midfield, C. Zanetti as playmaker and Cambiasso to add some steel if Davids is unavailable.

At the back, Cordoba can do a job in the centre of defence or at right back, where J. Zanetti can also deputise for new signing Ze’ Maria. Coco is slowly coming back from a lengthy injury lay-off (he hasn’t played for what must be over a year) and Pasquale is also a decent, if inexperienced, left back.

Up front, Vieri and Adriano pick themselves. The problem is that they are both target men who need to take centre stage in order to shine as brightly as we know they can. Vieri has had a torrid time with injury (which also affected his performances at Euro 2004 quite seriously) and form. Once the darling of the San Siro (the black and blue half, at least), his star waned last season and he was on the receiving end of friendly-fire boos for the first time in his career.

Waiting in the wings in the striking department is Moratti’s favourite underachiever, Alvaro Recoba, a player of immense talent and a magical left peg. Unfortunately, he’s also infuriatingly inconsistent and in my opinion has done little to earn his £10m a year (gross) wages since he returned to Inter from his one superb season on loan to Venezia a few years back.

The brightest prospect on Inter’s books is lightening fast striker Oba-Oba Martins. The youngster needs to develop his game and become more aware of the position of his team mates, but he is a star in the making, and “star” is not a word I use lightly.

Cruz is a great back up forward to have. Good in the air, strong, plenty of skill, excellent team player and an eye for goal. Inter certainly don’t have problems with their attacking department. If Vieri can recapture the form of 18 months ago, the sky’s the limit.

I think a top three finish isn’t beyond Inter, but I can’t see them taking the title due to the lack of quality at the back. In the race for the very top domestic prize (the Serie A title) it also doesn’t help to have a Manager like Mancini, who’s teams are as inconsistent as he was in his own playing days. Mancini was a fabulously talented support striker, but on his off days, it was like his team were down to 10 men. Lazio, the team he managed last season, played some cracking football most of the time, but could also very seriously disappoint when you least expected them to.


Trophy Cabinet


League Titles

13 time Serie A champions:

1909/1910, 1919/1920, 1929/1930, 1937/1938, 1939/1940, 1952/1953, 1953/1954, 1962/1963, 1964/1965, 1965/1966, 1970/1971, 1979/1980, 1988/1989


Italian Cup

3, in the seasons:

1938/1939, 1977/1978, 1981/1982


Italian Supercup (Community Sheild equivalent, a quite recent competition in Italy)

1989


European Cup/Champions League

2, in the seasons:

1963/1964, 1964/1965


Intercontinental Cup

2, in the years:

1964, 1965


UEFA Cup

3, in the seasons:

1990/1991, 1993/1994, 1997/1998

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