Inter slumps from Champions League finalist to playoffs exit
What a difference a year makes. Or nine months to be precise. Last season, Inter Milan reached the Champions League final and did so in style, with thrilling victories over Bayern Munich and Barcelona. On Tuesday, the Italian giant limped out of the competition with a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Bodø/Glimt — knocked out in the playoff round 5-2 on aggregate — in what is being labeled as one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history.
It wasn’t the first major upset the tiny Norwegian team has pulled off this season after wins over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid and a draw against Borussia Dortmund. “We know there’s a lot of competitiveness in the Champions League. If teams get to this stage it means they have something,” Inter coach Cristian Chivu said. “And they have proved that. They showed it against Dortmund, against Madrid, against City, against us twice.
“It’s a team which has energy. We could have done better in Norway, we could have done better today, too, but unfortunately it didn’t go how we wanted. We gave everything to try to advance, that’s football.” The signs were there last season that not all was right at Inter. The club reached the Champions League final but was crushed 5-0 by Paris Saint Germain. It also lost to AC Milan in the Italian Cup semifinals and finished runner-up to Napoli in Serie A. Coach Simone Inzaghi was replaced by Chivu, whose only previous senior managerial position had been a few months in charge at Parma.
The expected overhaul of an aging squad didn’t happen, with Inter making no serious outlay in the transfer market as it brought only Ange-Yoan Bonny, Luis Henrique, Petar Sucic and Manuel Akanji. This season, Inter is 10 points clear at the top of Serie A and appears to be closing in on the domestic title but it has struggled in the Champions League. The Nerazzurri got off to a great start in the continental tournament, winning their first four matches, but then lost three on the bounce to finish the league phase in 10th, one point off automatic advancement to the round of 16. “Bodo won both the matches, so they deserved to go through,” Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella said off the playoff defeat.
“They didn’t put us in great difficulty today the most difficult thing was to score and we couldn’t. “Of course, there is disappointment because our desire is to fight on all fronts. We tried, they were better. With one more point we would have advanced and would have saved ourselves this playoff but this is the new Champions League.” Inter needed at least two goals on Tuesday to advance, having lost the first leg 3-1, and it pushed from the start. It had a number of chances but was prevented from scoring by some solid defending and great reflexes from Bodø/Glimt goalkeeper Nikita Haikin.
Indeed, most of the statistics barring the scoreline point to Inter dominating the contest. It had an 32 attempts compared with seven for its opponents and also completed 552 passes compared with 192. “We have to give credit and congratulate our opponents because they did what they had to do and they did it very well,” Chivu said. “You know the level is high in the champions league and if you can’t be clinical and aware in front of goal, then opponents will punish you.
