When I came across this photo it was in a post about the fashion faux pas being had by Mrs. Ibra.
I don’t pretend to know anything about women’s fashion so I will stay away from that. Zlatan though needs to re-evaluate the jean shorts option and spend some of his buku bucks on some new clothes.
Inter defeated Roma 1-0 in the Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Wednesday night to keep their hopes
of a historic treble burning. A wonderful Diego Milito strike five minutes before half time was enough for the Serie A leaders to win the Italian Cup for the sixth time in their history. Roma had Francesco Tottisent off late in the second half.
Inter started as expected with Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito as the front two and Wesley Sneijder playing behind them as
the playmaker. The Dutch international was supported by Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso andThiago Motta from the midfield.
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri decided to keep captainFrancesco Totti on the bench and commenced with Luca Toni as the lone striker instead in 4-2-3-1 formation that had Rodrigo Taddei, Simone Perrotta and Mirko Vucinic in the creative
midfield department.
The match started on a bad note for Italian champions and current league leaders Inter as Sneijder got injured in a clash with Roma defender Nicolas Burdisso as early as the second minute. The former Real Madridplaymaker had to be substituted by Mario Balotelli three minutes later but not before someone among the Stadio Olimpico crowd had flashed a green laser beam at Inter coach Jose Mourinho.
The Nerazzurri were put under some pressure on nine minutes when Burdisso crafted a great cross that Inter custodian Julio Cesar hesitated to collect. Vucinic took advantage of that and outmuscled Maicon but couldn’t keep his header on target.
In the 12th minute Roma goalkeeper Julio Sergio made a great save from Maicon. Cambiasso won the ball in midfield
from Vucinic, sliced a pass to Eto’o, who charged into the Roma area and cut it back for Maicon, but the Brazilian international right-back’s shot was turned away brilliantly for a corner. From the resulting corner Thiago Motta leapt to head towards the Roma goal but his attempt went off target.
Roma had a penalty appeal on the quarter of an hour mark turned down when Toni went down under a challenge from Marco Materazzi. A couple of minutes later Milito scored forInter when Eto’o dispossessed Daniele De Rossi and slid a
pass to the Argentine international but the referee ruled it as offside.
There was end-to-end action and Inter custodian Julio Cesar was forced into making a good save in the 26th minute when Vucinic slid the ball through to Taddei and the Roma winger tried to find Toni across the face of the Nerazzurri goal but Julio Cesar intervened. A minute before the half hour mark Balotelli tried an ambitious attempt but it was comfortably saved by Julio Sergio.
Inter coach Jose Mourinho was forced into making another substitution in the first half when Ivan Cordoba walked out injured and was replaced by Walter Samuel in defence.
However, a couple of minutes later in the 40th minute the Beneamata surged ahead when Milito found the Roma net.
The former Genoa striker was played through on goal as Philippe Mexes didn’t close down on him quickly enough and the clinical striker found the Roma goal with a fiercely taken shot.
Tempers threatened to go over the boil in injury time when Materazzi went down under pressure from Mexes inside the Giallorossi penalty box. The referee eventually managed to calm things down and Inter went 1-0 up at the break.
Inter’s heroic 10 men earned a Champions League final meeting against Bayern Munich despite a 1-0 defeat toBarcelona in a pulsating semi-final second leg which saw the Nerazzurri’s Thiago Motta sent off in only the 28th minute.
After constant home pressure, but only one shot on target, Gerard Pique finally broke the deadlock on 84 minutes, but it was not enough to overturn Inter’s 3-1 first leg victory.
There was a surprise in the Barca line-up, with Gabriel Milito starting at left-back in place of Maxwell, who was named among the substitutes, with Eric Abidal not fit enough to make the 18. Yaya Toure took over from the suspended Carles Puyol at centre-back.
Inter originally named the same XI which had given them a 3-1 first leg advantage eight days ago, with Maicon and Wesley Sneijder shaking off injuries to play. However, they made a change long after the entry of the official teamsheets, replacing the injured Goran Pandev with Cristian Chivu, switching to a 4-3-2-1 formation in the process.
The first few minutes seemed to be a bedding-in exercise for Inter, and particularly for Chivu, who was still receiving instructions from coach Jose Mourinho at kick-off time as he lined up in a left midfield role. As expected, it was the Blaugrana who attacked from the off, with Pedro the first player to have a stab at goal, but his effort was way off target.
The Nerazzurri saw very little of the ball in the opening stages, with Barca dominating possession and the visitors happy enough to sit back on their two-goal advantage. But when Thiago Motta was booked for a foul on 10 minutes, the home side had a dangerous free-kick. Messi’s set piece ran beyond the melee going on in the box, during whichIbrahimovic had his shirt ripped in a challenge by Samuel.
In the next Barca attack, Maicon did well to allow the ball to run out of play for a goal kick. But as he did so, Messi fouled the Brazilian, forcing him into the advertising hoardings and seemingly causing some damage to his shoulder. Thankfully for Inter, the full-back was able to get up and continue after a moment of some concern.
Despite the stoppage, the Barcelona onslaught continued as Inter found it increasingly difficult to earn any possession at all. On one rare attack, Diego Milito was brought down for a free-kick, from which Chivu miscued a cross straight into the arms of Victor Valdes.
But it was a rare foray forward, as Barca continued to rack up the passes, completing 130 to Inter’s paltry 10 in the first 15 minutes of the game. The only worrying thing for the home side will have been their lack of openings so far.
They seemed set to create a decent chance on 20 minutes when, with a great piece of skill, Xavi bought himself time and space to run at Inter’s back four, but Walter Samuel did well to block as the Spaniard tried to feed a pass through to Ibrahimovic.
Moments later, Xavi again could have done more, as Dani Alves’ cross was met by a neat knock-down by Ibrahimovic, but the skipper just couldn’t control the ball as Lucio and Samuel converged on him 12 yards from goal.
Another chance came Barca’s way from another Dani Alves cross, Pedro getting on the end of it but firing just wide of the near post.
Inter then forced a corner after Milito and Sneijder linked superbly to feed Samuel Eto’o, but Gabi Milito poked the ball out. After a half-clearance from the flag kick, Zanetti played a neat crossfield ball for Sneijder, but the Dutchman was wrongly flagged offside.
Pedro was booked on 27 minutes after he chased down the breaking Eto’o and committed a foul. But the resulting free-kick brought the game’s first major flashpoint.
With Sergio Busquets harrying Thiago Motta, the ex-Barca man held out a flat hand, and upon making contact with the Spaniard’s face his opponent went to the ground. To the amazement of the Inter player, and everyone on the away bench, referee Frank De Bleeckere produced a straight red card for perceived violent conduct.
Busquets was shown on video replays to have looked up from his position prone on the ground to see whether the red card had been administered before eventually getting back to his feet, infuriating the Nerazzurri players.
The sending-off resulted in a switch to the centre of midfield for late inclusion Chivu, with Eto’o moving into a position off the left.
Barca took just a few minutes to make their first opening against the 10 men, with Lionel Messi dancing through before being superbly foiled by Julio Cesar’s save low to his right.
Naturally, the Blaugrana dominance only increased against their depleted opponents, but after Keita had gone down easily under Maicon’s challenge in the box, Dani Alves seemed to control Xavi’s cross with his left arm, only for the referee to wave play on.
Sneijder set off on a rare attack, chasing on to Maicon’s pass, but suffered a knock to his right knee as he stretched to reach the ball ahead of Gerard Pique. As Barca broke with the Dutchman still on the turf, Chivu was booked for a reckless challenge on Messi.
But Inter saw off the set piece, and saw out the half, with Barcelona’s near-400 passes having garnered only one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
After an unspectacular opening half from Gabi Milito, he was replaced at the break by Maxwell in a bid to provide Barcelona’s deep attacks with more natural width.
If anything, the second half began with a more end-to-end nature about it, with Intertrying their best to relieve pressure by holding onto the ball for longer periods.
But before long natural order was restored, with Barca dominating but still failing to truly threaten Julio Cesar’s goal.
After a double change from the home side which saw Ibrahimovic and Busquets replaced by Bojan and Jeffren, Jose Mourinho brought on Sulley Muntari for Sneijder.
The former Portsmouth man linked well with Maicon on 71 minutes to earn a corner, belatedly awarded by the referee’s assistant under protest from the Brazilian right-back. Though the corner came to nothing, the attack brought further relief for a tiring Inter defence.
Esteban Cambiasso made one superb challenge in particular on Lionel Messi as he continued to foil his diminutive compatriot to such an extent that each Barca attack was becoming more and more desperate.
But Inter continued to park the bus, with some home attacks starting out with all 10 Inter players within 25 yards of their own goal.
With 10 minutes left, Jose Mourinho set about redoubling his side’s defensive efforts by replacing the exhausted Milito with Ivan Cordoba.
Barca’s night seemed to have been summed up perfectly in the 82nd minute when Messi’s superb cross from the left found the head of the marauding Bojan Krkic, but his flicked header flew inches wide of the bottom corner with Julio Cesar stranded.
But within two minutes Barca had a lifeline, as Gerard Pique ran on to Xavi’s throughball, before turning superbly to shake off the challenge of Cordoba before slotting into an empty net.
It set up a sensationally tense final 10 minutes, and Mourinho’s response was to withdraw his only remaining attacker, Samuel Eto’o, in order to bolster his midfield with MacDonald Mariga, meaning Inter finishing the game with a 5-4-0 formation!
But Barca were now forcing shots on target at regular intervals for the first time. Xavi and Lionel Messi both had efforts blocked by Julio Cesar as the Inter back nine scrambled to keep out a rampant home side.
Barca looked set for the Bernabeu when Bojan fired high into the net in the 92nd minute, but referee De Bleeckere ruled out the goal for an earlier infringement, leaving the home players incredulous.
With the 94 minutes up, the referee blew the final whistle, signalling the start of celebrations in the away end and across Milan, as well as the end of a long evening of defensive toil for the heroic Inter players, who now have a final apperarance againstBayern Munich in Madrid on May 22 to look forward to.
Inter Milan returned to the top of Serie A, but there was not such good news for arch rivals Milan who lost at Palmero to end any hopes of winning the Scudetto.
Inter returned to the summit, at least temporarily, thanks to a comfortable 3-1 victory over relegation-threatened Atalanta.
Atalanta stunned their illustrious hosts when they took the lead with less than five minutes on the clock but, just as they had done midweek against Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final, Inter hit back with three goals.
After a dire opening five minutes, Inter began to get back into the game and top scorer Diego Milito levelled before Sulley Muntari gave them the lead 10 minutes from the break.
Cristian Chivu also scored his first goal for the club to wrap up the points for Inter in the 78th minute and send them back to the head of the standings – two points clear of Roma, who host Sampdoria on Sunday.
Inter came from a goal behind to record a famous victory over European Champions Barcelona at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, as the Italian giants move into pole position to reach their first Champions League final.
Pedro had given the Blaugrana an early lead, but the Nerazzuri roared back thanks to goals from Wesley Sneijder, full-back Maicon and Diego Milito, and it is advantage Jose Mourinho heading into the second leg in eight days time.
The pre-match team news saw Pep Guardiola offer Zlatan Ibrahimovic a return to his former stomping ground for the second time this season, after proving his fitness, and the Swede partnered Lionel Messi and Pedro in attack.
Jose Mourinho, meanwhile also employed an offensive formation, with Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o offered capable support by the roving Wesley Sneijder.
The atmosphere crackled from kick-off, and was befitting of the occasion. The Giuseppe Meazza stadium positively rocked, but the home support was left frustrated by a pair of debatable calls in the opening ten minutes.
Firstly, the wily Milito looked to have timed his run perfectly to spring Barcelona’s offside trap, but the assistant referee’s eventual flag for offside was met by a chorus of disdain from the Nerazzuri faithful. Moments later, they were up in arms once more, as Eto’o looked to have legitimately robbed Maxwell of possession, and he was shown an early booking for kicking the ball away in disgust as play was halted.
Then, we had the first sight of goal of the contest. Samuel Eto’o picked up the ball on the edge of the area, and his curling effort could only be beaten away by Victor Valdes. However, Milito on the follow up slammed his effort straight across goal.
But for their vibrant start, you just cant afford this Barcelona team chances, and the reigning champions hit a hammer blow on the 19th minute.
Maxwell, ironically a former Inter player, was allowed to roam freely to the by-line almost unchallenged, and his cutback landed perfectly at the feet of Pedro, who coolly slotted home from 15 yards.
It was the young winger’s 20th strike of a hugely fruitful campaign, and even this early in the tie, Inter faced a monumental task. They had failed to score against the Blaugrana in the last four meetings, and now they would be forced to chase the game.
However, to the credit of Mourinho’s side, they were undeterred from their game plan. Milito should have perhaps looked to pick out Eto’o but instead curled wide of the post from the corner of the six-yard area.
Moments later, though, The Argentine showed inspired awareness to divert Eto’o’s low cross into the path of Sneijder, who beat Valdes calmly from just inside the area, and the match was level on the half-hour mark.
It was a frenetic opening 45 minutes, in contrast to the closely-fought tactical tussle many had foreseen, but Guardiola’s side sought to slow down the contest as the interval approached. The Catalan side enjoyed a spell of possession, with Xavi at the heart, probing and searching for the slightest gap, but Inter stayed resolute.
At the beginning of the second half, Inter immediately appeared to press further up the pitch in an attempt to allow Barcelona less time to control the pace of the game, and Mourinho watched in satisfaction as his team turned the match on its head.
Milito again peeled away from Pique to pull out wide, and provide the pass into the feet of Maicon. The Brazilian still had plenty of work to do, but his control and volleyed finish was perfect, and he nestled his effort into the corner.
Inter were most definitely in the ascendancy, and Barcelona, uncharacteristically, appeared shaken.
However, there was almost an instant response, as the incessant tempo of the match continued unabated. Firstly, Messi stung the gloves of Julio Cesar was a long range shot, then Sergio Busquets somehow headed straight at the Brazilian number one from just six yards out.
But Inter were hugely impressive throughout the contest, and their comeback from going behind so early on was complete when Diego Milito added a deserved third.
Thiago Motta started another Inter counter-attack from deep in his own half, picking out Samuel Eto’o on the wing. His cross found Sneijder arriving late, but while his effort looked to be heading off target, Milito was in the right place to simply nod into the net past the exposed Valdes.
3-1 – Barcelona’s players looked around in disbelief; it is the first time this season they have conceded more than twice in a single match.
Guradiola’s response was to remove the utterly ineffective Ibrahimovic, who barely touched the ball during the entire match, and bring on Eric Abidal and reshuffle his side.
Barcelona were the dominant force in the closing stages, knowing that another away goal would swing the pendulum back in their favor. Gerard Pique camped in the Nerazzuri penalty area, causing havoc, and on a number of occasions almost found the killer touch to net a vital consolation.
Then, controversy. Daniel Alves stumbled under the challenge of Wesley Sneijder, and it appeared to be a cast-iron penalty kick. However, the referee booked Alves for simulation, to the disbelief of the Brazilian.
Barcelona continued to attack, throwing forward wave after wave, but the damage had already been inflicted, and in the end it was a famous night for Inter and their coachJose Mourinho.
However, this tie is far from over yet.
At the weekend Inter midfielder Wesley Sneijder urged his team to carry on chasing the dream of a historic treble. After round 34 of Serie A was completed, the Nerazzurri slipped back to second in the league table, but they are in the final of the Coppa Italia and take onBarcelona in the first leg of the Champions League sem-final.
Inter’s progress to the last four of Europe’s top tier club competition has been far from easy. They struggled in the group stages and actually played like an away side against Barcelona at San Siro. However, since the start of the knockout stages Jose Mourinho’s side have been hugely impressive, and after convincingly defeatingChelsea in the last 16, they got the better of CSKA Moscow over two legs in the quarter-finals.
Inter’s Champions League foray has taken a toll on their league campaign but the Beneamata still have a good chance of winning the Scudetto. However, club supremoMassimo Moratti will be keen to see his side progress to the Champions League final and for that to happen the Italian champions will have to get a result on Tuesday night.
Inter coach Jose Mourinho will also become the first coach, along with Bayern Munichtrainer Louis Van Gaal, to guide teams to Champions League semi-finals at three different clubs, following his achievements with Porto and Chelsea.
The last time Barcelona came to Milan they played like the home side and were held to a 0-0 draw by Inter. That was in the group stage of the Champions League earlier this campaign. In the return fixture, the Blaugrana taught the Italian champions a footballing lesson as they defeated them 2-0 at Camp Nou in a game that exposed the greatness of the Catalans and the (then) weaknesses of the Italians.
Since then Barcelona have gone from strength to strength and Lionel Messi’s imperious performance against Arsenal in the second leg of the quarter-final tie at Camp Nou was hailed in many quarters as the best individual performance in Europe since the turn of the century.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side failed to score on Saturday evening in the Primera Division in Spain. Espanyol clogged the midfield with bodies and thwarted the all-consuming, all-conquering Barca side from scoring. This might suggest that the reigning Spanish and European champions cannot score in all games, but one must remember that the Blaugrana have some of the world’s best players.
Coach Guardiola will be wary that Inter have improved massively in Europe since the last time the two sides met and that with Andres Iniesta absent he might have to change his tactics a bit.
