At the end of the night the score line finished 3-0 to Inter. This was the perfect game before our trip to Moscow as we did not have exert too much energy and effort to win. Mario and Davide gave us reminders why they’re two of the World’s emerging talents and why he’s going to be useful in the coming games (thank god he came to his sense and apologies to Mou’ and the team).
This game showed us a few things.
1) Thiago Motta is as amazing as I say
2) The side could win without Javier (something I was having doubts about)
3) Cristian Chivu is definitely our best left back as he is a slower, much more skilled version of Maicon
4) Our depth is one of our strengths
5) contrary to popular belief, We can produce a good showing in Serie A
6) Santon and Balotelli should be taken to South Africa
Team Ratings
Julio Cesar – 6.5
He had nothing to do during this game. Probably could have put a lawn chair down and had a nice relaxing afternoon snooze. I can’t remember an instance in this game where he actually had to make a save. This tells us a lot about the game. It tells us that we we’re in complete control and that our defenders played really well. The few times that JC got involved in play? There was that Bologna pots hit that he had covered and that instance where he tried to scoop the ball over the attacker. Silly Julio, tricks are for kids! (and out fieldplayers)
Santon – 7
He did his best Maicon impersonation today minus the crappy crossing. Slightly injuried, Davide took the field sporting some scary looking black tape on his knee. Why scary? Because players playing with injuries terrify me that why. He was always an option down the right for attack and his crosses always looked dangerous (Dougie please take notes). He also put in an honest shift in defense. Good showing by our future captain.
Cordoba – 7
Captain for a day. Must have felt good to take the field sporting that armband as he hasn’t done it in about 137 matches. Ivan did what he had to with minimal fuss.
Samuel- 7
Like his partner in crime, he did what he had to do with minimal fuss.
Chivu – 7.5
I’m telling you, he’s Maicon with a lot more skill and less pace. Saturday night he bombed up and down the left hand side and put in a honest shift. He did a lot of attacking and a lost less defending. I put that down strictly to Bologna’s in ability to mount a meaningful attack
Stankovic – 7.5
Deki continued his trend of playing well as he bossed the midfield exactly like in the CSKA game 3 days earlier. Just keep it up Dejan or else…
Cambiasso – 7
Did his usual thing while exerting little effort. Passed well. Tackled well. Attacked well. Was bald well. He was Cambiasso. Story over (well).
Thiago Mottta – 10 and man of the match
Biased rating? What are you talking about?!
Pandev – 7
Sacrifices himself so much for the team. He run, and runs, and runs until he literally has nothing left in his system. After his past few performances, he really deserves to get a goal. I’m not one for predictions, but dare I say mark Goran’s name on the score sheet in Moscow…
Milito – 7
His pass to Balotelli for his goal was sublime. Other than that he was pretty average. Did his thing though and one cannot complain about his work rate ever. Diego is in desperate need of a break and I expect him to be benched for the upcoming weekend Serie A game. Even the energizer bunny needs to recharge his batteries every once-in-a-while.
Balotelli – 7
Took his goal really well. Ran a little more than I expected him too, but it’s going to take more than a goal and some running for him to get back into my good books after his recent outburst. Keep doing your thing kid and maybe I’ll love you again.
Sneijder – 6.5
Came on for 20 minutes to just have some fun I suppose.
Side Note: it looks like Toldo will be retiring soon and that Viviano kid looks really put together even at his young age. I say we bring him in as JC12’s understudy. This would be easy seeing as we already own half his contract. The kid could probably learn a lot from training with JC. Inter management… make it happen.
So now that that’s out of the way let’s turn our focus to the return leg of the CSKA match. I want to start by saying that Sulley Muntari couldn’t do anymore in life to annoy me. Does he want to be in my bad books forever? Was it really necessary to tackle someone that robust in training? Especially our main attacking threat? Must you really be on my team right now? I know human emotion is fickle thing. One minute I could hate someone and the next minute I could love them, but God, Muntari is just pushing it. He’s almost permanent in my bad books now. If he scores the winner tomorrow, expect me to be singing a different song. Human emotion is fickle thing right?
Hopefully Wesley is fit and plays a part in the game tomorrow. If not we may just see Deki in the “hole’. This is something I don’t particular like as he doesn’t perform there. But hey, he’s been making me eat my words as of late, so maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
My Predicted Lineup
JC
Doug-Lucio-Wall-Cris
Cuchu
JZ4-TM
Wesley
Eto’o-Milito
I want... scratch that, I NEED a win tomorrow. I NEED this UCL like a fat kid needs cake. I NEED to not cry any time soon. WE NEED AN INTERNAZIONALE VICTORY!!!!
One last thing…
looks like Maicon (painfully) pooped a UCL ball. Hopefully the next thing to come out of him is the UCL Trophy?
Gianni Serra is a European football journalist. He currently writes for 
RSS feed