Among the four strongest and most famous teams participating in the Champions League qualifying rounds, only Inter Milan lost. Inter Milan’s local rival AC Milan easily defeated Zagreb with a score of 3:1.
Dynamo and Inter Milan fans were even more angry. They blocked the entrance of Inter Milan and loudly called for Lippi to be sacked.
Faced with the turbulent crowd of fans, Moratti still did not come forward to say a word for Lippi. Only the club's second-in-command Gabriel Ogliari came out to comfort the fans. Inter Milan has not been eliminated. They still have a chance to win at Meazza.
Last season's semi-finals Valencia did not win against Austria's Huaca Innsbruck. Inter Milan's loss is not completely unforgivable. As long as they defeat and eliminate Helsingborg in this game, Inter Milan
You can still move forward.
As the club's second-in-command, Ogliari very much hopes that Lippi will stay, because after Lippi's dismissal, the person who is expected to replace Lippi as coach of Inter Milan is most likely Alkmaar's head coach Jiang Mu, but this Chinese
He hopes to become the manager of Meazza, which also means that his position as manager of Ogliari has become a decoration. This is of course something Ogliari never wants to see. Think about the huge sums that Inter Milan has made over the years.
Let's transfer, this is such a huge amount of money, Ogliari is not willing to give up the power in his hands.
Lippi was pushed to the edge of the cliff, and he was also very nervous. The day before the game, he had not determined his starting lineup, but he led Juventus into the European Champions Cup for four consecutive years from 1995 to 1998.
Lippi knew how to control his emotions in the final. When attending a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Lippi said: "We have been fully prepared for this game, but the players did not do enough preparation in the previous game.
Losing. So far, we have made some tactical improvements. The players who played this time are all players who can play the whole game, but two weeks ago we were still stretched in terms of personnel.": "Now Inter Milan's players
Every player is 100% physically ready, so up to now I am still hesitant about who to play in 4 or 5 positions. The candidates in these positions are all in good condition. I have to
Decide who's going to start and then when to bring someone else in."
Lippi said with confidence: "I haven't decided who will take the penalty kick, but I believe this game will not be a draw, although Helsingborg will definitely put down Tietong as they did in the last game.
The formation is coming to deal with our offensive football, but we will definitely win before the penalty kicks are exchanged. I also told the players this morning that we did not play well last season because we were laying the foundation for this season. Now in the Champions League
We are right in front of us and we cannot miss this opportunity again.”
Lippi did not show any nervousness at this press conference, and also stated in his opening remarks that he promised never to yell at sports reporters at press conferences this season in order to ease the relationship between himself and the media. However,
When reporters talked about Jiang Mu, who might replace him as Inter Milan's head coach, Lippi couldn't help but said angrily: "Don't mention this Chinese in front of me again. I've heard enough. I'm still Inter Milan now."
As the head coach of Inter Milan, everything is normal at Inter Milan. We have not been eliminated yet. Whether I am or will be the head coach of Inter Milan in the future depends on the president, not me and you."
Lippi's erratic behavior at the press conference actually exposed the nervousness and fear in his heart. The famous former Sampdoria defender has indeed had a series of commendable achievements as a team coach. Since 1994
Since taking charge of Juventus in 2008, Lippi has led the team to the Champions League finals four times, winning the championship three times and finishing second only once. In addition, he has also led the team to win a series of other impressive awards. He definitely
He is not worried about not having a job, nor is he worried about financial losses. He has a contract with Inter Milan, but he is very worried about his reputation. After all, for a coach like Lippi, money is no longer an issue. What he needs is face. If
Being fired by Moratti in this way must be a lifelong shame.
Since Moratti, the current president of Inter Milan, took office in 1995, no head coach has been able to extend his coaching time to more than two seasons. And if Inter Milan is still in the first game of the third round of the Champions League qualifying round this Wednesday,
If Lippi is out of form during the game, then no matter how famous Lippi is, he will most likely be fired immediately like several of his predecessors.
Maybe Moratti lost his temper, maybe Moratti understood that if the game failed, it would not be Lippi who would suffer, but him and the club, so before the game started, he finally came out to be interviewed by reporters.
He said that regardless of the outcome of the game, Lippi would not be fired. He hoped that the team would put down its burdens and play seriously. He believed that Inter Milan and Lippi would be able to defeat Helsingborg and advance to the group stage.
Moratti's words did not give much relief to the players and coaches. Anyone with a good memory knows that when the previous coaches of Inter Milan faced decisive battles, Moratti also vowed that he would not fire him regardless of victory or defeat.
Head coach, but after the failure, these coaches were fired immediately.
On the first match day of the second leg of the third qualifying round, Inter Milan had a bye, and their rivals in the same city played a game first. Zarraroni, who was once favored by Moratti, led AC Milan to defeat the opponent 3;0 again and easily advanced.
Famous clubs such as Real Madrid, Hamburg, Lyon, and Leeds United also passed easily, which added some psychological burden to Inter Milan, which lost the first round, and Valencia, which was drawn.
An hour before the game on the second day, Lippi decided on the starting lineup. He sent out an offensive 3-4-1-2 formation, with goalkeeper No. 1 Frey, deep-lying center back No. 5 Blanc, and left and right.
The man-marking central defenders are No. 2 Cordoba and No. 13 Simic. From left to right on the forward line are No. 15 Coe, No. 8 Jugovic, No. 10 Seedorf, and No. 21 Maselari;
Attacking midfielder: No. 11 Pirlo, the two forwards are No. 18 Zamorano and No. 54 Hakan Suku.
This lineup proved to be a poor arrangement before the game. During the half-time break, Coe, Zamorano and Pirlo were replaced. If more players could be replaced, Lippi would definitely
It won't be just three people.
In this game, Inter Milan had a strong offensive, but they were still unable to break through the gate of Helsingborg. Seedorf hit a crossbar and Robbie Keane shot a goal post. This did not indicate that Inter Milan was far away from the goal.
It's closer, but it indicates that Inter Milan is closer to tragedy.
As time went by, Helsingborg became more confident as they played, while Inter Milan became more impatient and had fewer and fewer chances to score. Seedorf was outside the team, and Zamorano was ignored by tens of thousands of fans.
Calling them trash, the fans did not give head coach Lippi any face. They kept booing Lippi and dismissed the former Juventus coach.
Three minutes before the end of the game, the Czech referee awarded Inter Milan a penalty kick, and the substitute Chinese boy Recoba took the penalty.
Under tremendous pressure, Recoba performed abnormally. The penalty kick he took had neither power nor angle and was saved by Helsingborg goalkeeper Sven Anderson. This was also Inter Milan's last chance. In the end, Helsingborg
A 0:0 draw with the powerful Inter Milan in an away game was the first shocking upset in the Champions League.
Previously, Helsingborg had only met a Serie A team once, which was in the UEFA Cup last season. However, they lost to Parma 1-3 away and 0-1 at home. This time they responded
A shot of revenge.
Parma head coach Malesani also watched the game and gloated: "If you had known this, you might as well have lost in the Champions League qualifying play-offs and let our Parma team play.
!”
After the game, countless Inter Milan fans surrounded Meazza and asked Moratti and Lippi to give them an explanation. Moratti was obviously "very experienced" and he had seen such scenes many times.
As soon as the game ended, he fled from a mysterious place at very fast speed, leaving Lippi and his players in the stadium. In the end, if it weren't for the help of a large number of police, the Inter Milan players would never have been able to escape from San Siro. Hull
When the Xinbao team's bus left the stadium, it was applauded by the Inter Milan fans who were so angry that they could not vent their anger. However, the Inter Milan team members did not dare to take the bus. They secretly "hit" home to avoid being touched by their own fans.
superior.
Although he was cursed by tens of thousands of fans, Lippi could not leave like Moratti. Half an hour later, he attended the press conference accompanied by Oliari.
At the press conference, Lippi looked depressed and painful. He said that Inter Milan did not play badly and that the failure to win was mainly due to bad luck. "We were very unlucky. Seedorf missed the crossbar and Keane missed the goal post."
, we also missed a penalty kick 3 minutes before the end of the game."
However, Italian reporters did not agree with Lippi's view. Apart from objective reasons, they believed that Lippi had an unshirkable responsibility. "Why did Zamorano start the game instead of Keane?" "Why did Recoba have to be a substitute?
?" Lippi said that he used Zamorano not only because of Zamorano's scoring ability, but also because Zamorano has a strong will and can help the team overcome difficulties, and Keane has only been in the team for a short time.
, as for Recoba, it was due to injuries. Lippi believed that Inter Milan could stand up again. But Lippi was interrupted by some reporters and fans before he could say anything, "The same goes for Reco Baggio.
Excuse, Lippi can think of a new word!"
The next day, the Italian media, whose self-esteem was hurt, launched an indiscriminate bombardment of Inter Milan. Moratti, Lippi, Oliari, and the players, no one escaped the criticism of the Italian media.
"Inter Milan was murdered by Helsingborg", Italy's "La Repubblica" was the first to fire. The newspaper clearly pointed out that Lippi must be responsible for the defeat of Inter Milan. It is precisely because he always believes in his feelings before the game.
Being overly optimistic and underestimating the cruelty of the game resulted in Inter Milan not being able to perform to its normal level on the field. Lippi did not expect the Swedish resistance to be so tenacious, and their defense was surprisingly well organized. Inter Milan's
It's hard for "rich" people to find opportunities.
"Sports Post" also published a short article, "Inter Milan's huge disaster, Moratti fled".
Even the Italian website added insult to injury to Inter Milan. "Italy Online" published an article, "Inter Milan finally qualified for the UEFA Cup after a hard fight," which criticized Lippi.
"Gazzetta dello Sport" said more directly, "Lippi must be sacked. If Moratti can't manage Inter Milan well, just spare him. You can transfer him to someone else."