From the moment Jose Mourinho’s embrace with Marco Materazzi in a Madrid car park ended, something changed at Inter Milan. The winners of five straight Serie A titles, regular Coppe Italia and Supercoppe Italiana, and the newly-crowned champions of Europe had just begun their slide into obscurity.
That night in 2010 when they won the Champions League for the third time in their history quickly became a sign of how far they were about to fall rather than a symbol of some return to continental greatness. Sure, they won the Club World Cup under Rafa Benitez and then another Coppa Italia with Leonardo at the helm within 12 months of those events at the Bernabeu, but it was already clear that Inter were on the slide.
And they slid and slid for some time. They fell short of Champions League qualification in six straight seasons between 2012 and 2018, and only reached the Europa League twice in that time. They were a shadow of the giant club they had been just a few short years before.
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Luciano Spalletti was the manager who got them back into the premium European competition for 2018-19, but they still weren’t in a position to add silverware to the trophy cabinet until Antonio Conte cobbled together a group of ageing misfits for the 2020-21 season.
Having fallen short of halting all-conquering Juventus the previous season, Conte entrusted a squad of players punctuated by fallen stars of the Premier League as he pushed Inter towards a first league title triumph in 11 years.
At the back he had Matteo Darmian, whose spell at Manchester United never really took off. Aside from being drafted in as extra defensive cover when Jose Mourinho wanted to switch from his regular ‘low block’ to an ultra, ultra low block (think Liverpool away every season), Darmian was nothing but a bit-part figure at Old Trafford.
Ashley Young, a former United team-mate of Darmian’s, was also part of Conte’s selection having ended a nine-year association with the Red Devils just weeks before the Covid-19 virus swept through Europe. The ex-England international quickly became a regular at left-back for the Nerazzurri, and his speedy transition to life in Italy despite the vagaries of lockdowns made him a real asset at San Siro.
Aleksandar Kolarov had been brought in from Roma too, but was playing only an occasional role, thanks in part to Young’s arrival. Still, the former Manchester City star carried a degree of influence around the club thanks to the experience he provided when called upon.
There were other names familiar to the English audience in midfield. Christian Eriksen was an Inter player after having spent more than six years with Tottenham Hotspur, and was seeking a first winner’s medal since being part of Ajax’s league and cup double in 2013. Meanwhile Ivan Perisic was back with the club after a season on loan with Bayern Munich. And while the Croatian had never set foot on a Premier League pitch at this point, United’s lengthy pursuit of him during Mourinho’s spell in charge had made him a well-known figure to English fans.
Up front there was further Manchester United influence. Romelu Lukaku was following up his 34-goal debut campaign in black and blue following an €80m switch from the Red Devils, and alongside him was Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean was busy trying to reboot his career after a nightmare 18 months following his high-profile move from Arsenal.
Chuck in Andrea Ranocchia's short loan move to Hull City and, all told, there were 1242 games of Premier League experience in the Inter squad which finally ended Juve’s nine years of Scudetto dominance in that 2020-21 season. They were champions by 12 points ahead of neighbours AC Milan after a campaign in which Conte - himself coming off a spell in England with Chelsea - drove the standards to levels the club hadn’t known for a decade.
And that was the platform from which Inter have become Champions League finalists once more in 2023. Many of those English influences may have moved on, but Lukaku has returned and Darmian remains, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Edin Dzeko provide the Premier League audience with a couple more familiar faces.
So when Manchester City take on Inter in Saturday’s final, the modern behemoth that is the Premier League can claim to have had a big helping hand in the destiny of the famous old trophy regardless of who comes out on top.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
