Hope to heartbreak: Historic Champions League humiliation marks end of an Inter era
MUNICH - It was the fans you thought of first. They came in their thousands, flooding through the Alps to Bavaria, ticket or no ticket, to plant their feet on what they thought could be historic ground.
Inter believed. The 40,000 Interisti in Munich believed. Millions of others elsewhere believed. And why wouldn’t they?
Their entire run to this Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain had a feeling of destiny to it.
From conceding one goal in the eight-match league phase to stunning Bayern Munich in Bavaria and edging the greatest semi-final of all time against Barcelona, Simone Inzaghi’s side did it the hard way.
And yet they finished one of the biggest nights in the club’s history feeling like they had been bruised as black and blue as their famous shirts.
It was the kind of battering that leaves people in A&E. PSG outclassed Inter in every department and what made it all the more disappointing for the gobsmacked Interisti was the manner of the defeat.
Inter displayed none of the qualities that had got them this far. The Fort Knox defence from the early rounds, the ruthless attacking edge from the knockouts, the never-say-die, fire-in-the-eyes mental resilience against Barcelona. All gone.
Inzaghi’s side found themselves 2-0 down within 20 minutes as the Desire Doue show opened its first act, the 19-year-old setting up Achraf Hakimi’s opener before adding one of his own – via Federico Dimarco's leg.
It left Simone Inzaghi with a conundrum. Inter were not used to being behind. In fact, they had spent just 17 minutes trailing in their other 14 Champions League games combined.
If there was any glimmer of hope, maybe it would be to catch PSG at a set piece, such a weapon for the Nerazzurri during this run. But no, Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram couldn’t steer their only sniffs on target, and once the second half started, things only got worse.
It unravelled fast. In a bid to mix things up, Inzaghi brought Nicola Zalewski on for the struggling Dimarco and Yann Bisseck for Benjamin Pavard.
The Demon of Piacenza was soon booked as he became more and more frantic on the sidelines, and things didn’t get any better when Bisseck limped off the pitch just nine minutes after coming on.
Then came the one-two punch as Inter’s defensive organisation dissolved entirely. The majestic Vitinha played in Doue, who calmly finished for his second. Nine minutes later, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia bagged one that had been long coming.
By the time the whistle had blown and Senny Mayulu had grabbed a fifth, everyone knew that if anything, it could have – and probably should have – been even worse than what was a record Champions League final defeat, a 5-0 thrashing that will put this Inter side into the historical records for all the wrong reasons.
For all Inter’s inability to step up on the night, PSG were brilliantly worthy winners. Their dominance was the fruit of a meticulously planned and wonderfully executed gameplan, not simply an Italian bottle job.
Their ferocious pressing made it almost impossible for Inter to build anything, they were ruthless in attacking the spaces when the Nerazzurri did tried to push forward, and, unlike Barcelona, they gave almost nothing away defensively, Gianluigi Donnarumma only being forced into one save of note late on when the game was already over.
Maybe it was destiny after all, just not Inter’s. Munich has a funny habit of being a happy hunting ground for first-time European champions, this being the fifth time out of five that finals in the German city have crowned maiden winners.
This young PSG team is a frightening prospect for the rest of the European elite, as was Luis Enrique's comment in the post-match press conference that they “want to continue to conquer the football world.”
If this was a last dance for this Inter side, it was one in which they rolled an ankle, fell sprawling on the dancefloor and ripped the seam of their trousers. While spilling a drink all over themselves.
It will leave a bitter taste, and the debate around Inzaghi’s future will only grow. He did nothing to silence the speculation when refusing to answer if he will lead the Nerazzurri to the Club World Cup in two weeks’ time. “I don’t know how to respond,” he said.
Inzaghi’s detractors have already been quick to start cataloguing his errors: rotating the entire team against Como, keeping faith in Dimarco defensively, making ineffective in-game changes, things only getting worse after a bad start.
It could be game over for this Inter era. Their masses of dedicated fans deserved better.