13 years ago, Inter in the hands of Jose Mourinho went down in history when he won a great “triple” with cores including Eto’o, Millito and Sneijder. However, it would be a serious omission not to mention the veterans like Lucio (at that time 32 years old), Ivan Cordoba (33), Javier Zanetti and Marco Materazzi (36) in that miraculous journey. The perfect combination of the mutation of the players at the age of nine careers and the brave seniors has created a unique Inter.
History is repeating itself with the Inter of the present. In the semi-final first leg of the Champions League, coach Simone Inzaghi launched a squad with an average age of 28.4, including 4 players over 33 years old. There is no surprise with this squad because the CEO of Inter is Beppe Marotta – a leader with a lot of experience from his time at Juventus until now.
Not only bringing in old players, Marotta also has to save costs as much as possible. Francesco Acerbi (35 years old) is playing on loan from Lazio. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (34) and Edin Dzeko (37) both moved from Roma for a total cost of less than 3 million euros. But they did not go to Milano to retire, on the contrary, they also made an important contribution to Inter’s journey back to the Champions League final for the first time in 13 years.
Let’s start with Acerbi. In fact, this is his second visit to this city. In 2012, Acerbi had a short period with Milan. Midfielder in 1988 recalled: “I was only there for 6 months and at that time I was really stupid.” Acerbi’s career also received a big shock when he had testicular cancer and had to leave the field for a year. It was thought that that period would end Acerbi’s career, but it only made him stronger. “Illness forced me to believe in myself even more. Without it, I wouldn’t be the person I am now,” Acerbi said.
At the age of 35, Acerbi was no longer in the plans of coach Sarri at Lazio and he was pushed to Inter. In fact, at first, not many Interistas welcomed this “old man”, but over time, Acerbi suddenly became an irreplaceable stop in the Milan defense, with 46 appearances in all competitions this season.
Mkhitarian is also an extra person in the old management team. Last summer, as soon as he realized that Roma did not want to renew with Mkhitarian, Inter contacted and never regretted that decision. Along with Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu, Mkhitarian formed a dynamic three-man midfield. With experience in Germany and the UK, Mkhitarian knows what to do in key situations. The former MU player is the one who scored the goal to set the score 2-0 against Milan in the second leg semi-final.
Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Mkhitarian is very focused on taking care of his body, so at 34, the Armenian midfielder is still one of the fastest in the Inter squad. Micky’s fitness is not to be discussed, he can run continuously for 90 minutes and gives Inzaghi more tactical solutions.
Finally, like Mkhitarian, it seems that Dzeko left all the quintessence in the Premier League when he moved to Roma from Man City in 2015. But no one expected Serie A to be the land that Dzeko belongs to. He scored 119 goals in 260 games for Roma, before going to Inter and continuing to promote his best qualities.
No longer agile, but when placed next to a younger teammate Lukaku, Dzeko still has many outstanding aspects that force Inzaghi to choose. The opening goal against Milan after only 8 minutes of rolling in the semi-final second leg proved the value of the 37-year-old “old man” that cannot be underestimated. It was Dzeko’s fourth goal in the Champions League this season.
If he continues to shine in the upcoming final in Istanbul, the Bosnia and Herzegovina striker will be able to smile and say to his old team Man City: “I’m not done yet!”.
