Certainly not important. I'd say I found it ridiculous rather than interesting. Ridiculous to the point of absurdity that he couldn't see how they'd been well beaten.

Most of what I'd have said has already been said by others, but what a brilliant result that was. It basically means I'll be happy with ABU for the trophy now, and guarantees I'll have someone I'll be glad to support in the final.

Sneijder isn't always on his game, but when he is he's bloody brilliant, isn't he? And Cambiasso was exceptional too.

And I thought the referee was really good last night - authoritative, even-handed, nearly always right, and giving Terry's constant whining and moaning throughout the game the short shrift it deserves.

After that result and performance Mourinho can pretty much pick any job he wants from now on. You have to give him an awful lot of credit for transforming and revitalising Inter in such a short space of time. They resembled a modern football team last night.

Agree with Dalliance that Inter now look capable of winning the competition. They probably won't, but you can imagine one or two managers watching last night's game and thinking they'd be happy to avoid them in the next round.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are a team in need of renewal, so it seems strange that they appointed a man whose previous job was managing a retirement home.

I find it interesting that absolutely no one was talking up Inter's chances or status after they beat Chelsea 2-1 in Milan. Granted, one has to see out both legs of the tie before reaching a verdict, but still, I thought they acquitted themselves pretty darn well in atto uno. They played well yesterday, but not really all that well (I, too, thought it basically came down to the Sneijder factor; their defense was what it normally is, kicked up maybe a notch, but it was a near miss from Ballack and some others, and a near hit from Eto'o - provided by Sneijder if I'm not mistaken - that was the difference in the game) and if the game had swung the other way as it easily could have done without Inter's performance having been any objectively worse than it was, everyone would now be falling back on their preconceived ideas about the two respective teams.

I guess I'm saying nothing succeeds like success.

Also, to the Milito haters: the guy was wrongly called offside more than once it looked to me, and on every occasion (I think) he would have been one-on-one with the Chelsea keeper. He is a serious asset to Inter.

And I thought the referee was really good last night - authoritative, even-handed, nearly always right, and giving Terry's constant whining and moaning throughout the game the short shrift it deserves.

He missed two clear penalties, and somehow saw the foul that he rightly sent Drogba off for, but missed the bundling over of him that preceded it. He was shit.

As well as most people thought that Inter played in the first leg, a lot of us also thought that Milan played very well for a lot of their first leg too. I suppose it becomes habit, you expect non-English teams to be ground down and to eventually run out of steam because it has happened a lot in recent years after all.

I'm just concerned that Inter continue to lose focus on Serie A and let the great opportunity to equal the five titles in a row record of Juventus and Torino slip.

I don't know about the missed penalties but I don't think you really have a case on the Drogba incident. It's always the retaliation to an ordinary foul that gets punished with a sending off.

I'm disappointed I missed the match as I've really been itching to see Sneijder return to his Euro 2008 levels of peformance. Sounds like he was instrumental last night. While I agree that it's unlikely they'll win the tournament (then again, isn't that what was said of Mourinho's Porto in 2004?) Inter can at least count on the talents of two genuinely world-class players - Sneijder and Eto'o - which is a hell of an asset to boast in the latter stages of the European Cup.

To say that this constitutes the beginning of a meltdown for Chelsea's season is premature but it'll be interesting to see how Ancelloti and his team respond to this. In previous years, under Mourinho, Grant and Hiddink, Chelsea could always be counted on to come off the back of a defeat defiantly. Now, I'm not so sure they can. This is a serious shock for them. Going out at the first knock-out stage in Europe isn't something anyone at the club would have considered at the start of the season given their resources but all of a sudden frailties are becoming apparent (Cole's injury, Terry's bad form, Anelka's goals drying up). This is where a great manager (and I consider Ancelloti to be great) earns his wages. Watch this space...

Actually Eto'o was pretty poor last night apart from his well taken goal. He was diving all over the place, fine that happens, but he seemed to take the lack of any awards in his favour badly and was petulant and unfocused for much of the game.

Which was a shame as Zhirkov defensively was Chelsea's weak spot, Inter got in behind him a lot. Eto'o had a really good chance from that fantastic crossfield pass from Schneijder but took too many touches.

He missed two clear penalties, and somehow saw the foul that he rightly sent Drogba off for, but missed the bundling over of him that preceded it. He was shit.

That was a curious one, Samuel was holding him for sure but Drogba was the one who took them both to ground in his desperate attempts to get a penalty.

dalliance wrote:
I'm just concerned that Inter continue to lose focus on Serie A and let the great opportunity to equal the five titles in a row record of Juventus and Torino slip.

That record would come with a footnote, though, right?

They're clearly the strongest team in Serie A and they won both derbies, so it would be an injustice from that point of view; but I also don't think AC Milan have the uninjured quality to get us to the finish line, and that Inter will still manage to clinch it. (Although now it is said Nesta won't in fact miss the rest of the season and will be back in a month or so.)

Nah if you look it wasn't Samuel that pulled him to the ground (although he was clearly fouling Drogba, and they were up to that all night long), it was that other blunderbus at the back who clatter into him (by mistake, I think, this time).

Bruno, I don't think Drogba should have stayed on, but it should have been a penalty as well.

The_Liquidator wrote:
And I thought the referee was really good last night - authoritative, even-handed, nearly always right, and giving Terry's constant whining and moaning throughout the game the short shrift it deserves.

He missed two clear penalties, and somehow saw the foul that he rightly sent Drogba off for, but missed the bundling over of him that preceded it. He was shit.


It is funny to see the previous reigning champions of the set-piece black arts being undone by them though. Especially by a team who have perfected them under the same sensei as Chelsea did.

The_Liquidator wrote:
Nah if you look it wasn't Samuel that pulled him to the ground (although he was clearly fouling Drogba, and they were up to that all night long), it was that other blunderbus at the back who clatter into him (by mistake, I think, this time).



Dalliance is talking about a different incident from the one with Motta that prompted Drogba's red card.

Well why is he quoting me talking about the one where he was sent off?

dalliance wrote:



Which was a shame as Zhirkov defensively was Chelsea's weak spot, Inter got in behind him a lot.

Zhirkov has had a really dissapointing debut season, it was a shock when I finally saw him live against us that he even looked a liability against a D2 side. I'm not sure he'll get the time to adjust at Chelsea either.

Talking of players who were shockingly bad against us, Joe Cole looks finished (or at least in need of a radical change) at the moment doesn't he?

The_Liquidator wrote:
Well why is he quoting me talking about the one where he was sent off?

Because of the "two clear penalties" line? Perhaps I'm wrong but it would appear he means the earlier claim where Samuel had his arms around Drogba who then threw himself down as opposed to the one where Motta clattered in to him.

It did make me laugh that the BBC site has "Jose Mourinho proud of 'perfect' Inter show" as its headline, and immediately provides the full quote - "Manager Jose Mourinho hailed Inter Milan's "almost perfect" display after a triumphant return to Stamford Bridge".

A blatant forearm smash of journalistic misrepresentation.

No man is bigger than the club, that's what I always say.

Mwahahahahahahahahaha.

Bruno wrote:

That record would come with a footnote, though, right?

What footnote would that be?

* - this season Inter did not have to compete with teams who were systematically doping their players and bribing referees

that sort of thing?

No, the first of the series which they were given by default.