Inter 3 – Barcelona 1; Halftime

By: InterMAD | April 21st, 2010

ITALY SOCCER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Okay folks, this is going to be a long one, because there is a lot to get into here.

First things first.

We are now at halftime of a very long game. Nothing has been won yet. On the other hand, nothing has been lost. All that has been decided is that we are leading at the half. It’s great to feel good about this, but there are still 90 minutes, at least, to go in this game.

Having said that, it was a great game to watch. I would have enjoyed watching this game as a neutral. In fact, just before this game started, I told someone that I wish I was a neutral for this game, and then I wouldn’t have this foreboding that I was going to be a witness to a slaughter.

It’s not that I don’t think that we have a good team, it’s just that I know how good they are.

Early in the first half, right before they killed us for turning the ball over cheaply in our own half, I thought, “we almost scored on Barcelona! At least we aren’t lying down.”

At halftime, I thought, “At least we punched them in the mouth before we lost to them.”

There are going to be a lot of players who deserve a ridiculous amount of praise for this half of the tie – and all rightly so – but there is one player who was above and beyond the best on the field. He shut down the entire right hand side of the field, did battle with Messi and Alves and won. Then he went to the other side of the field and did the same thing there.

Par3191191

Stats Home Team First
maiconscores
Shots (on Goal) 9(4) 10(6)
Fouls 19 21
Corner Kicks 2 4
Offsides 9 2
Time of Possession 29% 71%
Yellow Cards 2 5
Saves 5 1

Pagelle

Cesar: I don’t think the goal was his fault. I thought that he came up with 2 very big saves. 6.5
cesarcl
Maicon: I don’t know how much he was to blame in the goal and I liked how he tried to cover for Lucio as it happened. Was phenomenal going forward. 7.0

Lucio: Stood tall and won the headers that he was expected to win against a decidedly smaller and less physical attack. Didn’t like the hesitation to go after Maxwell on the goal. 6.5

Samuel: Before the game, one would have thought that Samuel was a liability against the small and quick. The fact that he is self sacrificing and brave enough to block shots without a seconds thought to health or pain often goes overlooked. 7.0

Zanetti: Simply outstanding. Versatile enough to cover for Maicon on the right and cover on the left, good enough to do both at a world class level at 36, Zanetti will never get the respect and the accolade that he deserves. 8.5

Cambiasso: I thought that this was a slightly off game for Cambiasso and that he didn’t handle the pressure well. I hope he gets his head into it before next week. 6.0

Motta: Like Cambiasso, I didn’t think this was a great outing for Motta. I was in particular disappointed with his passes forward. 6.0

etoocl Eto’o: The selflessness and the willingness to sacrifice for the team in putting ego to the side and playing so far back and wide from goal is really appreciated by me at least. I would have made him my player of the game if not for Zanetti. 8.0

Sneijder: The first goal was confident and well taken. The header that the third goal came from wasn’t. I thought his passing was a little lacking, but I appreciated the defence. 7.0

Pandev: I thought that Pandev did his job in keeping Alves honest. He made a few good passes as well. I can’t think of any real blunders, but he has got to get better in the air. 6.5

Milito: Excellent game scoring and assisting except for the 2 poorly taken shots that he could have done much better with. They don’t have to all be goals, but they should be on target and make the keeper have to work from that close distance. Or make the pass. 7.5

Analysis

militocl Are we as good as Barca are? Does this score reflect reality? This isn’t as dumb a question as it might seem.

We are better than Barca in some respects. We defend better, that’s for sure. And here’s a little tip for those who don’t know: playing defence isn’t Anti-Football. It’s the other half of the game. Some people will never get this simple fact. It’s not as pretty, it may not put butts in seats and it’s not perceived as refined. But it is part of the game.

And we are good at it. We are better at it than they are. Some have said that Barca play defence with the tippity-tap passing and the wearing down of the clock. But in my mind, winding the clock down so that the other team will have less of it is called “stalling”. This is a perfectly good strategy if it works for you. Defence, by definition, is what happens when you don’t have the material to score – in this case, the ball – and are trying to prevent the other team from scoring. I didn’t come away impressed with their defence from this game.

What do I mean? Well, let’s look at it this way. Inter had several chances in this game, all of them starting from the flanks. Eto’o had a decent chance forcing a save after beating Maxwell on the right flank. Milito beat Alves on the left twice for shots that went wide, and should have probably been crossed into the middle, soon after that. Sneijder, on the first goal was completely unmarked on the left flank after 2 or 3 defenders went to converge on Milito from a pass from Eto’o that started on the right flank. The second goal was Milito beating Maxwell on the right flank crossing to Maicon who poked home as he cut into the middle from the right flank. Eto’o crossed from the right flank to Sneijder who was, you guessed it, left completely all alone on the left flank.

luciocl Are we seeing a pattern yet? Do we now know where Mourinho has targeted the Barcalona weaknesses? It looks a lot like where he targeted Chelsea’s weakness to be too, doesn’t it. Kinda also explains why he keeps going back to this formation during the Champs League. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to do as well in Serie A. Says something about the league and how organized the teams are, in my mind.

More interestingly, it didn’t seem like Guardiola did a whole lot to change things so that the fullbacks who were getting burned out there were more protected. On the contrary, it seemed like he was content to just continue to all out attack even after the first two goals showed how exposed on the flanks his attacking made his team. I can only recall the 1 sub that he made. Was this because he wasn’t concerned, or was this because he didn’t have anyone to switch with?

Could this have just been a bad night for Barcalona? Yes. Could this have been a bad night because there was another good team there struggling against them? Yeah, sure, anything’s possible, but here’s the real question that’s going to start baking my brain in about 5 days.

Can Inter do it again?

Let’s get into the referee. Was he terrible? Not particularly, although I wouldn’t say that I agree with many of the calls – surprise, surprise I know.

Was Alves fouled in the box and was it a penalty? On first blush, when I saw the play live I thought that it was. When I saw the replay, I thought that Sneijder held his foot back to minimal contact and that it was going to be a penalty anyway. When I saw the replay yet again, I noticed that the ref and the linesman were right on top of it – one on either side – and neither made a move to call for the penalty. I was delighted to see that Alves get a caution, though. Here’s why I was delighted, replay showed minimal contact and he was clutching the leg. Not nice.

coachingstaff Look, these referees in the Champions League, in case you haven’t gotten it by now, do not want to 1. call penalties if there is any possible out and 2. don’t want to throw anyone out if they can avoid it. In fact, if I had to guess, I would bet that the UEFA brass made it clear that the game was to be won by the players and not the referees, especially after several *ahem* incidents last season. It would have to be extremely blatant for anything to be called a penalty and this wasn’t it.

Was Milito offside for his goal? Yep. I would guesstimate that he was about half of a step judging from the perspective of the camera relative to the field. In the replays I also noticed that the linesman was doing a poor job of keeping up with the play. It’s unfortunate – and I mean that, nothing bugs me more about this game as a whole than ref errors – but it stands.

Did Puyol deserve his caution? I really think that he did because he was impeding the progress of Milito without playing the ball. I mean he can say that he used his shoulder instead of an extended arm, but the ball was half a mile away. There was no challenge for the ball, there was only the knocking Milito – who would burn Puyol in a race to the ball – off stride.

Was Milito offside in the first 10 minutes when it looked like he was alone on goal? Nope. But again, the linesman looked like he was off the line and his perspective was off.

cambiasso Did Thiago Motta deserve to be at least cautioned in this game? He probably did. He was responsible for at least as many fouls as Busquets was, but on the other hand, he didn’t yell at the ref either like Busquets did and this ref struck me as being the touchy type. It was just as well that the Barca players were the ones to surround this guy after some calls they didn’t like. I don’t think that helped them one little bit in the “ref sympathy” tally.

Was Messi’s shoulder/elbow on Maicon a foul? It’s really hard for me to tell. Messi definitely aims to hit Maicon, just as Maicon isn’t afraid to come into contact with Messi while chasing the ball. Does Messi’s arm come up to hit Maicon? I think it might a little, but it’s hard to tell. It might have been an unfortunate accident between two players going for the ball. The thing that bothers me, though, is that I didn’t see Messi going to check out Maicon while he was lying there and a quick look at Messi with the camera saw a very frustrated man playing in a tough game. So, I don’t know, but I would like to think that it wasn’t intentional. I know that Barca supporters will rush to his defence to say that he’s not “that kind of player”… but that’s hogwash. They all can be “that kind of player”. Even angelic faced Kaka, the militant born again, dives unashamedly.

Did Eto’o deserve to be whistled for a foul after winning a ball deep in Barcelona’s side of the field? No. Play should have continued and maybe we might have had a decent chance out of it. But I will tell you this, he definitely deserved the caution he got for stupidly kicking the ball after he was whistled for the foul. I get that he’s frustrated, but that was just dumb in a game as important as this was.

So, good chances were created, some great defence was played and we got some good breaks. How will Barcelona respond, will we be able to line up this way again, can we make this good feeling continue into the League, can we continue to split our attention, what’s going to happen next season when more big changes are looming?

These aren’t the only questions I am asking myself tonight as I reflect on things. I revisit another question of mine: If we don’t win anything having challenged on three fronts in a ferocious manner, is this a successful season? I still am not sure. I think that a lot matters on how we finish this season. If we lie down – that is, if we don’t play in what I think is our best – in any of the competitions, I will be supremely disappointed, but how bad can I feel after this, in many respects, wonderful season!?

Next up, Atalanta in the battle for the Blue and Black mesh.

60219379

FORZA INTER

Some Related Inter Posts:

Category: Champions League, Diego Milito, Douglas Maicon, Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Julio Cesar, Lucio, Serie A, Team News, Thiago Motta, Walter Samuel, Wesley Sneijder

« Inter 3 – 1 Barcelona: Gobsmacked! | Home | Inter v Atalanta: Back to Earth »

Kazaan

It's shame we are heading this way with Mario, but we are having one of the best seasons in the past two decades, so he has everything to lose, not Inter. But tomorrow will be great nonetheless, another match day! :) I can only watch Roma vs Sampdoria on tv, so I hope I'll find a good stream for our game.
Vasco da Gama

I can't but laugh when reading that Mourinho is jealous of Balotelli. The best (and best paid) coach in the world being jealous of a 19 years olf spoiled wannabe player? Balotelli not even didn't win anything as he even has not the basic qualities to be a champion: intelligence, humility, character. At his age, Pelé, Eusébio, George Best, Ronaldo, Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi were already true champions, team players and strong characters. Balotelli will never make it. Not at Inter, not at any place.
Maryam

Oh and thanks Vinod for scarring me forever with that image!
Maryam

Is Riola's whole purpose in life to piss Interista's off?! Cause if he is, he will be winning an award for it soon! HATE the guy, hate him, hate him, hate him!

I am just so pissed off how this whole Balo ordeal is overshadowing our amazing win over Barca, the team deserves better than that!
E

i really really dont understand why anyone would defend Balotelli , this kid clearly thinks he is too good for Inter , he doesnt want to be here so let him go for god's sake , there was an Inter before Balo there would be one after he leaves
lets sell him and make some cash with coutinho coming in and other talented strikers waiting in the primavera we will be fine so lets sell the douchebag and use the money we get from it to buy a vice Sneijder
Drew

I'd love to be proven wrong, but I just don't see anything positive coming out of Balo's continued presence here. He just seems miserable, and I don't enjoy the notion of my favorite club being a prison. Plus he's now disliked by the fans, the coach, and his teammates -- where else is there to go? Time to cut the cord.

I say we keep playing him this season -- hopefully he can score some good goals and make himself more attractive to buyers. Hopefully we sell him to an EPL or Spanish club this summer, and we can be happy to watch him (I hope) develop into a quality player without it being at our expense.

I've given the guy a pass for a long time, but this is just getting stupid. There's plenty of great young talent that would kill to play for us (hell, Bonucci is all but begging to come back in -- and we should totally take him up on it -- and I'm sure Hamsik and Ranocchia wouldn't take much convincing to come onboard). Then we've got this Destro dude we can start easing into the senior squad next season. There's no reason to hold a gun to Balo's head and have these idiotic blowups every few weeks. The world of football is so much bigger than him and us.
eklavya

No way you're gonna see Ballotelli in Barcelona. The guy would get killed for his attitude.

Pep would also get killed if he sells off Bojan.
Kabir

Vinod that pictures is just gross...

Balotelli has apologized (http://inter.it/aas/news/reade..., but I don't know if he really even deserves forgiveness anymore. I also didn't like how the letter ends, though it may be a translation issue:

"With the help of my agent and the people who love me, I hope I can now resolve the problems that I have with the club and several of my team-mates."

If he needs the help of his agents to resolve problems with the club and several team-mates, does that mean he wants a pay raise?
Vinod

Part of me wants us to dump Balotelli's ass just for hiring that piece of shit Raiola. Just when we thought we were rid of him forever, back he comes to disrupt us.

For those of you who haven't seen his ugly face before, here's a picture so you can put a face to the creature you hate:
http://www.campionatoseriea.ne...
Inter Inter

Wow. So we're supposed to play Mario every match even if all he does is stroll around and let his team mates sweat blood and tears defending a lead, just so that he can get his WC callup? You can't talk to people like Raola; such people only exist in the gutters.
Darjan

and now raiola says that balotelli missed out on the world cup squad because we did not play him enough. - WOW!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10...

"This should have been the year of Mario. He has missed out on the national team, which was a dream of his.
alessio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Mario gets a second Tapiro.....and why did Mourinho yell "son of a bitch" at Balotelli in Spanish??
kev9inter

Does Mino Raiola ever shut up
kev9inter

If and thats a very big if balotelli leaves in the summer we will and have too sign a young forward which will see us being linked with sergio aguero and its already started. some of the possible options for the club would be

1) £30million plus balotelli for Fabregas
2) Sell him 2 Man City for as much as we can
3) Go 2 Barcelona in cash/trade, the only players they would include would be yaya toure & bojan krkic two players who pep doesnt seem to like much

When i seen Mario throwing the shirt on ground i was pretty pissed off and as much as he frustrates us he still is an amazing talent. the kid could b as good as cristiano ronaldo in 3 years time (jst an example).

Unfortunately it will be Mario Balotelli or Jose Mourinho heading 4 the exit door. they jst cant work together.

kind of like 2002 when it was ronaldo vs hector Cuper and we all know what happened
Vinod

Seriously though, once you lose the support of the ultras, its pretty much all over, whether you're a player, coach, director, even president. It takes a miracle to win them back.
Vinod

Lol Kabir! :D
Kabir

If Balo leaves, I really hope he goes to Barca. Perhaps this time we can get Xavi + 40mn
ajay

and a letter from the curva nord to balo:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10...
ajay

seems balo has apologized (google translation) :

http://translate.googleusercon...
ajay

balotelli makes the squad for atalanta !!!!!

Goalkeepers: 12 Julio Cesar, 21 Paolo Orlandoni, 51 Vid Belec.

Defenders: 2 Ivan Cordoba, 4 Javier Zanetti, 6 Lucio, 13 Maicon, 23 Marco Materazzi, 25 Walter Samuel, 26 Cristian Chivu.

Midfielders: 5 Dejan Stankovic, 7 Ricardo Quaresma, 8 Thiago Motta, 10 Wesley Sneijder, 11 Sulley Muntari, 15 Rene Krhin, 17 Mariga, 19 Esteban Cambiasso.

Strikers: 9 Samuel Eto'o, 22 Diego Milito, 45 Mario Balotelli, 89 Marko Arnautovic.
Kabir

Thanks bacon and marica. I don't know why these stats aren't more widely available - they're so interesting!

The squad for Atalanta includes Maicon and Balo. I have a strange feeling we may see RQ start.
Kazaan

@Poor Mario. I also think he is being abused, but only in this stage of the saga and only by Materazzi.

Mou's words towards Mario are a usual staff said by a coach in every sport in my experience. That cannot be considered as abusive imo. Also, every official punishment for Mario is deserved and required.

My major complaint is about our man-management.

Useful info i am not here to troll. Maybe Mou will rest Maicon, now when he is really injured. I would like to see Milito rested too, as well as Snejider. Eto'o and Zanetti can cover for their absence, because even if we play with only 8 man, with those two you wouldn't even notice :)
Poor Mario

This poor young man is being abused. Not only from fans but also by his coach and teammates. No matter how bad his attitude is there is no justification for the way he is being treated. What must the guy do? Walk around with a smile on his face and pretend there is nothing wrong? Pretend that he isn't being abused? I never heard about Mario going to parties, sleeping around with different girls, drinking and doing drugs. Clearly his behaviour is do to how he is treated in football. The guy is a normal teen and could be one of the best but can't because he is black. Is Mario John Terry? Even some scum like Terry don't get the same treatment like Mario. If i were Mario I would just quit. This kind of abuse isn't worth it. That dumb immature jealous coach of his is the ring leader and has turned everyone against Mario. When Mancini was coach these things didn't happen until Mourinho came along. Mourinho is jealous of Mario because he is a failed football player. When he was in Portugal playing for his father team he failed misreably. The man is obviously trying to destroy Mario's career because of his hate and envy for the boy.This is abuseof a 19 year old child plan and simple.
Kazaan

My opinion about Balloteli overlaps with Moggi's!? I'm affraid for my soul.
marica

Paragraphs dear chap, paragraphs.

distance covered stats:

http://www.marca.com/2010/04/2...

"If I were Italian, and even more if Inter, I would feel insulted and outraged with the transmission of Spanish TV"

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...

Reading the Spanish press I found out Pique wants a neutral referee like Ovrebo for the next game, unlike that calamitous travesty of a ref, a puppet of Mou who's been best friends with him for 10 years (this friendship is based on the fact they're both portuguese and may have once attended the same restaurant, who knows even at the same time) This so called ref is well known to be a weak and easily swayed character, so they deliberately placed Figo on the sidelines, knowing his status would intimidate him. Vid of traitor Figo celebrating.

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es...

Guardiola feel abandoned, with his president and directors refusing to take up the cudgels against this biased reffing.

I then read a Spanish report on Atletico - Liverpool where Liverpool had a legit goal disallowed, but funnily enough they didn't even mention it.
i am not here to troll

well I guess the stats dont really offer us much of a clear prediction for next wednesday's match, in our last 5 meetings against spanish opposition in the CL we have a L-D-L-W-L, thats a shitty record no doubt. However more encouraging is the fact that in barcelona's last three semi finals they have failed to score at home in all three. A not so good sign is that mourinho has never actually won at the nou camp, he has record an L-D-D-L against the blaugrana since the start of his career, luckily for us this time a draw would be more than ok. On the flip side our away form has been fantastic we've won our last two matches away from home in the knockout rounds scoring a goal and not conceding, hell if we can go to stamford bridge and win which has never happened before at inter than we can go to the camp nou and get a result. We dont even need to win this match but I would prefer to win it just to show our critics how far we've come. Obviously with the type of team barca have its just going to be difficult beyond belief to go there and win, only two teams have done it, rubin and sevilla. One thing is for sure in order to beat them you need to be swift on the counter, be solid in defense and midfield and make sure you frustrate them as much as possible by interrupting their rhythm as much as possible, thank god they dont have iniesta. Mou should really consider resting maicon this weekend, we need him back at all costs, chivu on the left is just too goddam slow and I wouldnt bet on messi to have two bad games in a row. He can just play deki in the trequartista role against atalanta on the weekend, rest sneijder he's too important, and atalanta are not bari their defensive record is down there with the likes of Juve and Siena. One last interesting stat, the last time mourinho played against spanish opposition in the semis and english opposition in the last 16 he went on to win the trophy. He had it even more difficult with porto as his porto side had tied 0-0 with deportivo in the dragao in the first leg. Many picked Deportivo to go through as they had destroyed one of the major european heavyweights AC Milan 4-0, you know what happened in the second leg? Porto won it 0-1, if mourinho can get his team to play well away from home even after they tie the first leg 0-0 at home then he surely can get us to do this. One thing is for sure, Mourinho has never won both semi final matches before, but yet again he had never beaten a team like Chelsea home and away before, he can do this, surely, I hope so anyways. The only thing Im afraid of is that now Pep knows our strategy and how we plan to stop him and now he can twist things up to try and stump us, I still think Mourinho's experience should see him through guardiola even with all of Barca's players.
barindera

ibra will be fine...give he needed this year to adapt to a completely different style. (if hes gonna be out of form these 2 semi finals legs will do just fine with me!)

as for balotelli and materazzi, both guys are clowns, and I have never liked them! always in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

the only reason we dont sell balotelli is because moratti is a smart man, his value has potential to only increase in the future.
bacon

hey kabir, over at uefa's website, the press kits marked "TL" show average position of each player, which helps when determined the real formations played.
http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/...

however, distance covered stats are a bit harder to find. the author of zonalmarking has mentioned this, and he seems to be able to find anything on the internet.
Kabir

Does anyone know where to find the "distance covered" stats? I love it when they show them during the game, but I haven't found them online. Thanks!
E

I know Jo but i was talking about the board not the fans look how successful Eto'o was for them but he was still shown the door and besides i dont think that our ex big swede would ever shine in that formation of barcelona
or maybe im saying this because i hate his ass and hope he flops for them mwahahaha
Johonna

Some of the Spanish press gave him a 1 rating for his performance. Yikes.

I dont know, E. All he has to do is score a couple goals and people will forgive him. Fans are fickle that way.
E

Johonna and Darjan I get the feeling that Zlatan will be shown the door soon just like ronaldinho , deco and eto'o before him not everyone is as nice as our Papa Moratti
Darjan

Johonna he should have stayed with us. I knew his career was going downhill when he left for a 433 system. He is now playing futuristic football from the bench-- he never did that with us. :)

Even though he is also dead to me, I still can not help but love the man. He was my biggest man-crush all-time and flames like that never really go away. Ouch!
Johonna

Oh Darjan - it is not good. The Spanish press is really out for his blood.

If only I could feel sorry for him.
Darjan

Between the lines, we read a given embarrassing: "At San Siro Ibrahimovic ran, until he remained in camp, six kilometers, the same distance traveled by Victor Valdes, with the small detail that Valdes works as the doorman." Umiliazione pesante per un orgoglioso come Zlatan... Heavy humiliation for a proud as Zlatan ... "

lol
Drew

That video of Balo is just surreal. WTF is up with the juicebox? Reminds me of my old AYSO games. And why doesn't he just drive away? Staffelli is just sitting there asking him questions for like 5 minutes, and it's not like Balo's actually responding to him...

Dude is quickly becoming the Axl Rose of Italian football.
MAD

Honestly, can it get much worse than the Meazza? Did you see all the players slipping?
rawr

The wet pitch is to help the ball move faster, which would benefit Barca's short passing game. I am not sure how big of an impact it makes though.
Inter Inter

Hey guys, how's Barca wetting their pitch at Camp Nou going to affect our game? Seems that a wet pitch is their pet thing...
Kabir

I agree with Vinod that mentality more than organization is why the 4-2-3-1 doesn't work as well in Serie A.

But really, I'm only writing this post to see if this works
O_Monstro

marco and johanna, thanks for the clarification :)
MAD

I agree Fuck Riola

Instead of counterattacking, instead it can be called "transition" attacking. The idea was to rush up the field and turn defence into attack.

Consider "Showtime" basketball in the '80s and '90s if anyone here can remember that far back. The idea was to play tough defence, turn the ball over, run the field, and pressure the defence into making mistakes as they scabble to get back. Even if you don't score you force the other team to waste energy. I think that happened in this game.
MarcoL

Another great thing with Eto'o on the wing is that his workrate is off the chart. Ive never seen such a striker race back and defend. Even playing against Barca when Milito was subbed and Eto'o placed up top, he still sprinted back and defended more than Balotelli.

I agree we might be misuing him but as long as he doesn't mind and Milito keeps putting the ball in the net, I don't think either really cares as long as we keep winning.
Vinod

You know what? Fuck Mina Raiola and fuck Balotelli. This isn't about them, and I hate the way they're trying to take the spotlight away from our spectacular performance and on to themselves. I've supported Balotelli through everything else, but this is really ridiculous. We've played our best match in decades, and this is where the conversation goes? Fuck them all.

----

Coming back to this game, MAD, you've done a terrific job on the analysis. The referee views are spot on, as is the tactical view on Barca's weaknesses. Apart from the high defensive line, another reason why they are so weak in defence is that in their eagerness to win the ball back so that they can enjoy more possesion, they tend to double team the opponent on the ball. This works for most teams, but it does leave a free man. If you can get the ball away to the free man quickly enough, Barca are in trouble. 2 of our goals were exactly the result of this.

BTW, we did not exactly counter Barca the whole game as the media would have us believe. All our plays were the results of good buildups and bad defending. Only the second goal could have some claims of counterattack, but even that is doubtful. Motta won the ball in our half, but did you notice how many Barca players were there in our half at that time? Only 5 - that's half the team. The other half were either trying to double/triple team Pandev, or caught out of position trying to get in front for their ridiculously high pressing game. The third goal was the result of a long buildup for us. Xavi losing the ball at the edge of his own area does not constitute a 'lighting counterattack' as the media would have us believe. We beat them not on counter attacks, but on measured, targeted buildups that forced their defenders to abandon their positions and exploited their spaces.

I think I have earned my right to an 'I told you so' moment. :) MAD said that it says something about the organization of Serie A teams that the 4-2-3-1 doesn't work against them. You can call it organization, I call it mentality. Teams in Europe are willing to attack their opponents, home or away. This in turn gives us that little bit of space needed to attack effectively. Teams in Serie A defend deep and play on the counter all the time.

If you ask me, a 4-3-1-2 would not fare any better, at least in attack, which is why Mou abandoned it in the first place. What do we do in a 4-3-1-2? We heap more bodies into an already congested middle. How do you expect to break teams down like that? Ibra did, but Ibra specializes in that. At least the 4-2-3-1 stretches play wider and forces the opposition to spread out that little bit extra. Yes, it does misuse Eto'o, who is maybe our best natural number 9, but at the benefit of working a little more room.
Johonna

Skyder, anyone can use bold and italics (also blockquote). The trick is, you have to use less-than and greater-than signs instead of [] to designate html code.

Rossonero: As far as I can tell, they dont. La Gazzetta is taking quotes out of context and sensationally positioning them on the front page.

When you read the article containing Moratti's actual quotes, he says we dont intend to sell Mario - Moratti wants to mend the rift. The full quote is: «Si è suicidato in pubblico, il problema c’è e qualcosa pagherà. Ma la ferita si può ricucire: non intendo venderlo»

("He committed suicide in public, it is a problem and he will pay something. But the wound can heal: I do not intend to sell")

The Milan bit is later. Moratti is joking with Galliani when he says it. Galliani was quick to reply that they weren't:

Quel Milan... Poi Massimo Moratti fa visita a Stefano Borgonovo in Gazzetta. E trasmette lo stesso concetto a una platea che sa divertire con le sue battute. «Oggi è la giornata meno adatta per parlare di Balotelli... Vedo qui Lippi e mi auguro che proprio oggi il ct si sia convinto a chiamare Mario in Nazionale... E poi c’è anche il Milan dietro, per quel che mi pare di capire...». Lo dice sorridendo e guardando fisso Adriano Galliani, seduto poche poltroncine più in là. Il vicepresidente rossonero subito si mette ad agitare l’indice: «No, noi no..».

So there. Just a bit of sensationalized reporting.
MarcoL

Im glad Pandev did a Cambiasso and shaved his head. Looks much better. Also when Moratti said Milan were behind it, he said it in jest as Galliani was close by and they laughed about it afterwards.
MAD

skyder, it may also be the browser you are using. I use firefox and it seems to work.
kirby

the city of milan. not AC, or at least, thats what i gather from it all
O_Monstro

“It’s like he committed a public suicide. His gesture was too sensational. And Milan are behind it, as far as I know…”

? what has milan got to do with this?
MAD

Many HTML codes seem to work with the way the comment program is set up. You need to look them up and then try them out - I would help but at the moment I am kinda swamped.
skyder

One more thing: how come some people can italicize/bold their words and some can't? Jo and MAD, any advice?
skyder

This new Mario episode appears to be quite serious, even Moratti doesn't seem too optimistic:

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper after Balotelli’s antics at the end of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Barcelona, the Nerazzurri president said: “Well, it is difficult to patch things up now. It’s not impossible, but he will have to pay for something…

“It’s like he committed a public suicide. His gesture was too sensational. And Milan are behind it, as far as I know…”

“I am not underestimating this problem, because if he acts like that, there is a problem.

“But nothing is impossible. It depends on how some things are tackled. My wish is to continue with this lad, because he is talented and has the character to overcome the obstacles.

“We will try to patch things up with the team, the coach and the club. I think it’s possible.”
Thau

What a game! I thought we were going to get demolished after their goal, but once again our boys showed that this team is something special. We didn´t give up, which is a huge transformation from previous years. Is this team good enough to beat Barca at Camp Nou? I don´t know. I hope so. It will be ten times more difficult than beating Chelsea in Stamford Bridge. But it can be done.

About Mario, he is an idiot. I´m so tired of this boy. CL semi-finals against the best team in the world. We lead by two goals. Balo comes in and gives the ball back to Barca with that idiotic shot, doesn´t bother to defend, makes gestures towards Inter fans and shows how much he cares about his team by throwing his shirt. I know that some of you love him and would want him to stay and become our "Rooney", but that will never happen. HE DOES NOT WANT TO PLAY FOR THIS CLUB! In few years he might be one of the best players out there, but he won´t be wearing black and blue. Because he don´t want to. So why should we keep him?

By the way, if Marco did what big nose said, he should be sanctioned. No violence, just love. Peace!
Kazaan

It’s sad, no doubt about that for me. It is also an opportunity to make money, buy someone who is already a finished product. I’m not so worried about Inter, really. The club is always bigger than any player.

I’m more worried about our young players and the message they have received from this. It’s one thing to discipline Mario for being unprofessional, but it’s completely different to leave him with a bully like Materazzi.
ray

http://www.interpersempre.com/...

La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that balo is (officially?) leaving at the end of the season! what is going on...
Avinesh

Johonna- I'd call an Exorcist.
Johonna

Holy cow. That kid has had waaay too much coffee.
I don't know whether to laugh or call Italian social services.
:)
Avinesh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The force is strong with this one!!
Johonna

Mario has been listening to his new agent. He doesn't let this guy make a fool of him again. He just sits there and sucks on his juice box. Good boy. Keep your head down. Show everyone up by doing what you do best - playing your little heart out.
Joey

Sorry for some of the typos or grammatical errors. Just checked it over again.

Joey
Joey

Before writing this post, I should let everyone know I am a Roma Fan, there is no question in 90% of situations I wish Inter to lose.

I always thought Soccer was different from every other sport in American ( I do love American sports, but not like soccer). I lover the game. So, when international play is on, I would ruth for Inter (except Roma!!!! or some underdog like Sampdoria or Palermo - NEVER LAZYO!!!) I will support Serie A. I think Inter should and could represent what Serie A is all about. I always laugh when I see or hear people talk about how Serie A is declining. The problem is, Serie A is the the toughest top teak to bottom team league. It is it has been a bad for the past 5 years, except for AC Milan winning it in 2007/

If you have a favorite team in Serie A, 90% of you should be happy Inter are doing well. I believe Serie A still stands at 3 lock teams and 1 playoff round due to Inter's success. Win everything, and make Serie A proud.

Joey
Amir

Thanks for the video MAD. That was brilliant.
Mario doesn't seem like the arrogant dick he is on the pitch in that interview. He actually seems pretty down to earth and a funny guy. Or maybe he just likes the attention.
Amir

Thanks for the video MAD, that was brilliant. Mario doesn't seem like the arrogant dick he is on the pitch on. As weird as it sounds, he actually seems pretty down to earth that he would let them interview him and joke around with him like this.
fiorentina4life

hey intermerda. i hate your team but i hate those bayern fans more. they are cheats and so are u and so are other serie a teams exept fiorentina. if only the fiorentina fans in teh offside page follow me nd troll on this page, that wud be sweet as hell. i actually want to see no one win the champion league and jus give it to us coz we were cheated. bayern fans say jovetic goal was offside bcoz gila was offside? rubbish!!! if a ref ever makes a call like that, i will kill em. for the club, for fiorentina! forza viola!
Maryam

thought motta did a really good job against barca. he did have a couple of crazy passes initially in the game but become really dominant as the game went on. he was absolutely vital in stopping messi. in fact it was him wining the ball from messi that eventually led to maicon’s goal. and he also contributed to milito’s goal by wining back possession and playing it to eto.

ajay I totally agree with what you said about Motta.
At first his passes were driving me absolutely CRAZY,
to the point where I was screaming at the tv screen for Mou ( who at that point felt like he could hear me! LOL) to take him off. Instead as the game progressed I saw how steadily he was working at completely shutting of Messi, and thats when I realized the real impact he had on the game and the team as a whole.
MAD

I don't know if this got posted yet, but here is the obligatory...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
MAD

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.striscialanotizia.m...
Johonna

Link? I love those things
MAD

Mario got another Golden Tapir for his collection...
Johonna

You and me both, gowtham, you and me both!
Johonna

If it helps, the blue and black stripe across the front is very prominent. Maybe you guys could just focus on that?

But ya, I have noticed that white kits are to Barcelona as red capes are to bulls. :)
gowtham

AAANNDDD if u guys win the champions league i really really want you guys to win the treble:):):)
gowtham

hey guys i commented on the previous post
and once again i wanted to congratulate you guys on a massive win.
Im a barca fan in and out but i know when my team is beaten,yet i dont think we shouldve lost by such a scoreline, a one goal win,or a tie wouldve been fair, but wtv its my opinion:)
anyways guys their is still a whole ninety, maybe 120 minutes to go and at the end of the day i hope the best team winsss
i usually hate the teams who beat barca, but those guys are normally faggit teams who play nasty, but you guys were PHENOMENAL.,,
If u guys make it to the final i hope you guys win and sneijder gets to get one over his ex-team( I hate that f****n team :D)
so congrats and good luckkkk
*P.S: if i remember correctly you guys have to wear your white jersey next week, and if you notice we don't like teams in white:D)
Johonna

And for anyone who missed it, the Curva Nord's very impressive choreography for the Barcelona game:

http://www.curvanordmilano.net...

"Madrid, we go together" but the verb is used reflexively, so it has connotations of everyone working together to go as well.
upper90

It might as well be a Brazilian haha. And that goal definitely deserves some kind of recognition.
Johonna

From the "Huh What?" files:

Inter Milan defender Douglas Maicon has been honored with a “Trotter Tribute” from the world famous Harlem Globetrotters in recognition of his “Globetrotter-esque” goal in Inter’s 2-0 victory over Juventus in Italy’s Serie A “Derby d’Italia” on April 16.

“Maicon’s creativity and control of the ball were extraordinary,” said Globetrotters Showman Special K Daley. “With those moves, we might even consider him for one of our Magic Circles.”

The “Trotter Tribute” honors professional and college athletes from all sports throughout the world whose play calls to mind the dazzling showmanship of “the world’s most famous team.”

The honor is designed to recognize amazing and entertaining moments during the course of competition. Members of the media often refer to unbelievable plays as “Globetrotter-esque,” signifying fantastic athletic feats, as well as the unique trademark the team has emblazoned in incorporating entertainment into sports.

Wow - the Harlem Globe Trotters like Maicon. What a strange cross over.
brian

i was always under the impression that a straight red was a 2 match ban. this times article seems to think so as well when discussing drogba's upcoming uefa ban next year: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...
i am not here to troll

well thats strange Im pretty sure maicon got a 2 game ban when he got a straight red card, and Im pretty sure that sneijder got more than a one game ban with that red card against bilan, so I guess straight reds are only 1 game suspensions unless you're an inter player.
rawr

Straight red is still 1 game suspension, but UEFA has the authority to lengthen the ban.
i am not here to troll

woopsy my bad Im a bit sleepy so thats why my sentences are quite shitty today, "I meant to say so if us and bayern were to make the final ribery wouldnt be there"
i am not here to troll

wait so was ribery given a straight red or a second yellow? If he got a straight red then YIPPEE he misses the final, so just if us and bayern were to miss the final ribery wouldnt be there.
rawr

The more I watch Zanetti, the more admiration and respect I have for him. The way he dominated wherever he played against Barca was just unbelievable.
Sairax

Greetings Inter fans! I know you guys may not want to share all your secrets, but I have to ask......Zanetti is a robot right? I mean he's gotta be. I keep watching him thinking 'how the hell can he still be playing like that without ever missing a match for like 50 years?'. If he is not some sort of man-machine, then what is he on? Because some of our Arsenal players could certainly use it!
Fra™

Agreed agreed agreed on Thiago Motta!!!
Very solid game IMO, he's a very unselfish player that does all the dirty work combined with good quality passing and sometimes even scores. Plus I have a feeling he's also the "glue guy" type off the field. He's kept growing on me at a steady rate since early in the season, to a point where I am now persuaded he's been pretty much clutch to our success so far this season.
ajay

thought motta did a really good job against barca. he did have a couple of crazy passes initially in the game but become really dominant as the game went on. he was absolutely vital in stopping messi. in fact it was him wining the ball from messi that eventually led to maicon's goal. and he also contributed to milito's goal by wining back possession and playing it to eto.
skyder

several of the kids look Indian (in front of cuchu, wall, maicon, JZ)
Mickey

does anyone have any idea how they select these kids and where they come from? NONE of these kids are Italian-looking, whit some looking like the come from completely different continents. Immigration is one thing, but this appears completely different...
skyder

great write up MAD! is it really true that barca had 71% of the possession??

here's balo's contribution to our cause last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

and no matter what the barca players are saying, they're all afraid of Inter and the Mou-factor. Pep looked worried a lot last night.
Tony

I'm pretty sure that the Messi incident with Maicon was accidental. In this video you can see Messi standing next to the physios who are attending to Maicon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
http://www.videosoccer.net/foo...
Kristopherson

MAD your rating of Motta a bit harsh. He made the two tackles that turned possession in our favour for the last two goals, and he also put the ball over for sneijder (the one he miscontrolled) at the end of the game. His best work was off the ball.
rawr

May be I should bet on Bayern losing 2-1 next game, with Robben scoring the decisive away goal?
kev9inter

bayern away goals again lol
Fra™

oh wait what am I thinking - they can afford to lose and barely scrape through on away goals....
Fra™

That was one very ugly game in Munich. Lyon played horrible but I fully expect them to give Bayern a run for their money in France next week.
Bayern on the other hand were very very unimpressive for most of the game, got very lucky with the officiating and with that goal that looks more like the golie's blunder than anything else.
I wonder what Bayern will do now they can't afford to lose and somehow barely scrape through on away goals, like they're used to.
kev9inter

inter or barcelona will have an easy final cuz bayern & lyon r pretty poor. horrible tackle from ribery
kev9inter

Can we(inter) defend YES can barcelona a big FAT NO! thats 1 reason y they play possession football simple terms if you have the ball ur opposition has less chance of scoring. they play a very high line and will always try & catch u offside this is a very big sign of a team that cant defend. i may be an inter but i think we r a better all round team. football is about attacking & defending.

good goal from robben
Fra™

1:0 Bayern, there you go
MAD

I seriously doubt that Roma played their best 11 against Udinese, but we really can't be concerned with what they do. If we want the league we will have to win in the league, it's that simple.

Against Barcelona in Spain? I put an undercurrent of... ugh, I don't know in my article above because I just can't see how this is going to work out. If Inter from yesterday shows up, we have a chance. If Inter from the Genoa game shows up, we are toast.
Fra™

2nd **and** red
Fra™

No way.
Bayern always get so lucky it's not even funny, and that was a pretty soft 2nd red just 3 minutes after the first yellow. Rosetti was made to feel a little pressure during half-time, I take it?