Inter Milan won its first European Cup in 45 years today in thrilling fashion, riding two goals by the Argentine Diego Milito to a comprehensive 2-0 win over Bayern Munich.
With the win, Inter manager Jose Mourinho became just the third manager, after Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld, to win the European Cup with two different clubs.
The result completed a marvelous year for the Milan side, which took the Serie A title, the Italian Cup and now the Champions League in a rare treble. Perhaps more telling is the fact that en route to today’s crown, Inter Milan felled the champions of England, Germany and Spain, making as clear a case for Italian football’s return to prominence as it does for Mourinho’s brilliance.
Tonight, Inter played classic, muscular defensive football, frustrating a Munich side lacking its biggest inventor to suspension.
Credit Arjen Robben for doing all he could without Franck Ribery as his partner in tonight’s lineup – the Dutchman was crafting and dangerous, and more than one foray from the flank left into the center gave Inter a start. But without his French partner, Robben's Bayern was revealed to be too one dimensional to crack an Inter side that rarely makes mistakes.
Even with Thomas Mueller enjoying perhaps his best game in the late stages of this European Cup, Bayern could only test Julio Cesar’s net, nor defeat him. And with the club world’s best back four – Maicon, Walter Samuel, Lucio and Christian Chivu -- with Javier Zanetti providing the important midfield cover in front, it was swiftly clear that Bayern were in for a long night. (ESPN)
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