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Champions League Review 2010
Champions League Season review: Mourinho's magic worked once again
Ozren Podnar
Glory to Jose Mourinho. The "Special One" did it again. For fourty-five years Inter have longed for their third European title, but only under the wise leadership of Jose Mourinho did they achieve the goal the president Massimo Moratti has invested hundreds of millions of euros in since 1995.
In Madrid, Bayern were well beaten 2-0 and Inter's fans could finally voice their long-repressed joy. The Bavarians had some chances and a huge advantage in ball possession, but Inter were by far more dangerous and had in their ranks the hottest finisher of the moment in Diego Milito. Inter attacked and (more frequently) defended like a team, with Samuel Eto'o and Goran Pandev filling in as full backs rather than flashing their amazing offensive talent. Bayern could only lament that their current Müller is just not as good as Gerd the Bomber. Thomas Müller, the Bundesliga revelation of the season, wasted the opportunities that his more illustrious predecessor and namesake would have put away with his hallmark ease.
So Inter deservedly won the 2010 trophy thanks to Milito and Mourinho, whose choice of players and tactics made all the difference between this team and the previous generations who have failed since 1965. Or so they would like you to believe.
Sounds fun, but it is not true. The only reason Inter Milan have been crowned champions of Europe is the volcanic dust that shut down airports around Europe and forced Barcelona to travel by bus for the first leg in Milan. The 1,100 km trip stretched over two days and had the blaugranas pretty weary when they came out before the 85,000 partisan crowd at San Siro. Inter had also had one day more to rest as they had played their Serie A home game against Juventus. With no travelling involved, with five days's available to recover their energies, in front of their own crowd, Inter had the edge over Barcelona that under normal circumstances they would never have had.
Mourinho: clever and...lucky!
And on top of everything, Inter received a little help from the Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca...allegedly Mourinho's friend. What Tom Henning Ovrebo had gifted Barca in last season's semifinals (remember the three to five penalties denied Chelsea in the second leg at Stamford Bridge), Benquerenca took away in that infamous first leg in Milan by not giving Barca two penalties for fouls on Pedro and Pique. The final outcome was 3-1 in favour of Inter, a result that only could have been produced through magic or an incredible sequence of events...or both.
In the return leg at Camp Nou, Mourinho deployed the most shameful stonewalling tactics since the time of the old, Helenio Herrera-coached Inter which arguably invented this ultradefensive style. It is easy to forgive the Portuguese coach for his choice, since that alone helped his team avoid an utter thrashing. On the day, Barcelona had the ball 70% of the time, but managed to punch just one hole through that mountain of bodies. Pique's solitary goal gave Barcelona a futile win, while Inter headed for a clash with Bayern in Madrid.
And everybody knew Bayern were doomed. With a goalkeeper and a defence half as good as Inter's, without the suspended Franck Ribery, Bayern had only one player who could be a starter in the current Inter: Arjen Robben. And he alone could not stop Mourinho from picking up the 17th coaching trophy of his career.
Real secure their saviour
Apart from Inter's and Bayern's fans, there was another large soccer community vitally interested in how the finals would play out. Real Madrid had already decided they would sack Manuel Pellegrini and go after Mourinho. The Spaniards hoped Inter would win so that the Portuguese would decide he had no more reasons to stay at San Siro. The coach had already prepared the ground for his departure by stating he was not happy in Italy and that he did not feel at home there.
When the job was done, he did not even travel back to Milan to join the mass celebration but opted to stay in Madrid to negotiate with his future employers! A mere week after the finals, the two clubs agreed to an 8 million euros transfer fee and Mourinho will be presented to the Madrid fans and the media as the key element of Real's new project designed to reconquer Europe.
Here is what makes Mourinho tick: he even rejected a salary rise at Inter in order to force a transfer to Real, where he hopes to become a saviour after two trophy-less seasons and lead Real to the tenth Champions League in their history. And Florentino Perez, to help make it happen, has already earmarked a reported 110 million euros to sign the players Mourinho will demand in the following weeks.
Highlights of the 2009/10 season
* No English club managed to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2004.
* Liverpool were eliminated in the group stage by Lyon and Fiorentina.
* Real Madrid failed to progress to the last eight for the sixth consecutive season.
* Lionel Messi topped the scorers' chart with eight goals.
* The Croatian Ivica Olic emerged as one of the most potent strikers in Europe, having netted seven goals, all of them decisive, against Juventus, Manchester United and Lyon.
* Bayern eliminated Fiorentina and Manchester United, their opponents in the round of 16 and round of 8, with identical scores: 2-1 and 2-3.
* The refereeing was a weak spot once again: Bayern's second goal against Fiorentina in the 1st leg was illegal, just as Porto's second goal against Arsenal at the Dragao Stadium; Barcelona had two good penalty claims denied against Inter.
* Inter became the first Italian team to win the triple crown of League, FA Cup and Champions League. If Bayern had won in Madrid, they would have achieved their first triple crown.
* Diego Milito decided all three of Inter's trophies in the space of two weeks, by scoring the only goals in the Italian Cup finals, the last day of Serie A and the Champions League final.
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