Italian football lost two scapegoats

Sports Weekly All Media's special correspondent in Italy, Shen Tianhao

Simone Inzaghi officially announced his resignation on June 3. The next day, the Milan Sports Daily made a picture: four rows and two rows of glass display cabinets with ceiling lights on them, and some glittering trophys inside. The theme of the first line is: Winning Championship. What about the second line? The lost champion. So, you see that there are a large ear cup in the second row of the display cabinet. The grid in the upper right corner is empty, but there is a three-color shield and three trophy cups in the lower right corner, which symbolizes Inter Milan's fourth-tier attack and fourth-tier championship this season. Above this creative picture is the main title of the article: "He could have done far more"; below is the subtitle: "Inzaji's Inter Milan is between squandering and humiliation."

At first glance, Inter Milan's Inzagi era was almost a disaster. "Mi Style" continues to write: "Inzagi lost at least two league championships. The Champions League final two years ago played well against Manchester City, but he lost in the end, and Munich witnessed the tragedy. Inzagi's style is also repetitive..." I wonder if by this standard, is the football that Guardiola and Klopp have led the team to play for many years also "repetitive"? Of course, Guardiola has also undergone some self-change in his nine seasons at Manchester City, but can Inzaghi enjoy the resources and cards he holds? The

Court of Trial

is not over yet. In the column of "Mi Style", Saki continued his usual mean evaluation of Inzaghi: "He was born in the anti-tradition of Italian football, and tried to transform into an 'European' coach, but failed to truly do it." In the Italian football dictionary in recent years, "Italian" has become synonymous with utilitarian, conservative, and unprosperousness, while "European" symbolizes liberation, progress and a bright future.

In this comment, Sarki inadvertently showed a kind of self-pride - he himself is a model of "European" football, even the creator. But the question is: without Berlusconi, Basten and Gulit (and the legendary local defense line created by Lidholm), will he have the capital "European style" and the ability to "enable, enjoy the game, and win the results"?

Do you still remember the famous saying that Inzaji threw out in the 2022-23 season? "Where I go, my income increases, my losses are cut in half, and my trophy is obtained." To a large extent, he also fulfilled this bold statement in Inter Milan. Even in the eyes of some people, he should have won more, even "much more". It seems that Barry Jerry, the editor-in-chief of "Mi Style", does not agree with this sentence. He immediately wrote an article after Inzaghi left office, with the title: "Inter Milan brought more to Inzaghi than Inzaghi brought Inter Milan."

In fact, during Inzaghi's tenure, Inter Milan's net investment in the transfer market was negative 114 million yuan, but the financial report data has changed from a huge deficit of 246 million yuan (2020-21 season) to a profit of more than 20 million euros (2024-25 season, expected). Inter Milan's salary cap and player value amortization in the previous three seasons have decreased year by year, which is a "cost reduction"; it has played in the Champions League knockout rounds for four consecutive years, two of which have reached the finals, and there are also market masterpieces launched by tactical design (selling high-priced goalkeeper Onana), which is "efficiency enhancement". Compared with the previous four years (2017-2021), Inter Milan's prize money in various competitions during the Inzaji era increased by an average of 60 million euros per year.

Barijli said in the article that the real leader should not choose to give up after a crushing defeat, but Inzaghi accepted the Arab contract - this way of leaving is worse than the 0-5 on the scoreboard of the Munich Stadium. This is certainly not entirely wrong: Inzaghi failed to leave in the most glamorous and even most appropriate way, but Mourinho actually made a decision before the 2010 Champions League final night, and Morati knew it clearly. The difference from Inzaghi is: "The Madman" won that final and his destination is Real Madrid.

Golden Inzaghi did not go to Madrid, but flew to Riyadh. Such a career choice has also attracted more criticism for him,

and even cursed him. The official welcome video released by Riyadh Crescent uses audio of Philip Inzaghi's goal in the 2007 Athens Champions League final; a large number of Saudi fans ran to the "Super Pibo" social media account to leave a message, hoping that he would lead the Crescent team to the top of the world. These two news quickly became the headlines of Italian media, and the message conveyed was self-evident: "Simone Inzaghi, see what kind of football wilderness you have fallen into after betraying Inter Milan!"

Inzaghi is certainly prepared for such a situation. His choice of Saudi Arabia was obviously not really for "experience overseas football" or for reunion with his former beloved disciple Milinkovic Savage. In the first video recorded after taking over the new moon, Inzaji even called "Saudi Arabia" as "Sud Arabia", which means "Southern Arabia", and was ridiculed by fans if nothing unexpectedly.

However, Inzaghi signed a contract that is only two years old and is only 51 years old after it expires. He still has a lot of time to return to European football. A ready-made example is in front of him: Spanish midfielder Gabrie Berga, born in 2002, became famous in Celta two years ago and was chased by many powerful teams, including Naples, but unexpectedly chose to join the Jeddah Nationals. Now, Bega is only 23 years old. He won an AFC Champions League in Jeddah and has at least 25 million euros added to his bank account - his salary for two years.

As the most stanced top star in European football, Tony Cross once praised Berga's decision, calling it "embarrassing". But did Berga really make the wrong choice? If he had really joined Naples the summer before yesterday, God knows what kind of performance he could have played in the team that Rudy Garcia took charge.tỷ lệ bóng đá