Crunch Time

by Philip Mboya on February 25, 2010

Inter Milan gained a vital victory last night in the Champions League after they beat Chelsea 2-1 at the San Siro. Inter‘s win took Jose Mourinho’s impressive record of not losing a home match to 131 games, a feat no other coach has been able to do and i have no qualms with him declaring himself as “special”.

However, as Inter were celebrating a deserved win, their cross town rivals Milan were also having a celebration of their own down in Florence. The Rossoneri were celebrating a win that not only took them up to 2nd in the league but which also cut Inter’s lead over them to just 4 points.

Now Inter have been having a rough time in the Serie A the last couple of weeks drawing matches that they should have won without even lifting a finger. This might just come back and haunt them if  they fail to win the scudetto. I can hear the sighs already. Inter are in a good position to grab a 4th succesive scudetto but they can’t ignore the fact that Milan and Roma will fight for it down to the wire.

Milan last won the Serie A in 2004 while Roma last won it back in 2001. Both these teams want to bag at least 1 major title this season. The decent chance of them achieving this lies in the scudetto race. So Mourinho should know that Roma and Milan will play these last few games like finals.

I can only come up with 1 problem that this  Inter squad face, striker Samuel Eto’o has been a pale shadow of himself ever since returning from the African Cup of Nations earlier this month. The Cameroon international has failed to click with partner Diego Milito in Inter’s last couple of games and Mourinho is faced with a dilemma of etheir benching him or playing Pandev in his position.

Pandev has been enjoying good form since leaving Roman club Lazio after his fall out with the the club’s former coach Davide Ballardini. The Macedonian international has formed a good partnership with Diego Milito and many wait to see what Mourinho’s next step will be.

Photo credit: Pupipanu

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

norman February 25, 2010 at 9:29 am

Your record is wrong. Mou did lose a home game when Chelsea played Barca in champ leag b4. The 130 unbeaten home record only applies to domestic leag, even thou the record is still pretty impressive by any standard.

I fully agree that Eto did not perform up to his reputation as 1 of the deadliest strikers in the world. He scored 36gls with Barca last season. Where is this form now? Is it the fault of Inter that Eto cannot fulfill his true potential? I dunno.

Eto’s blatant miss against Chelsea must have weigh on Mou’s mind when he select his team for the 2nd away leg. Pandev and Milito hv formed a formidable partnership with just a few games. I would have gladly use the pair instead.

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valsimot February 26, 2010 at 9:16 am

“Inter are in a good position to grab a 4th succesive scudetto”
No, my friend, Inter is in race for fifth consecutive scudetto, even the first of this it was on paper, but was good lesson for the Italians, to change their behavior…

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valsimot February 26, 2010 at 9:17 am

FORZA INTER, SEMPRE INTER………….

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