The Monday Scratch

The fall of Inter as a symbol of a football crushed by fear and without joy anymore

The day of shame. A devastating blow. A sporting massacre. A new Korea. A grouch to be completely rebuilt.

by Dario Ceccarelli

2 June 2025

French President Emmanuel Macron, center left, his wife Brigitte Macron, pose with the PSG team after the team won the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan Sunday, June 1, 2025 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool) ASSOCIATED PRESS / LAPRESSE ONLY ITALY AND SPAIN

5' min read

Key points

Acerbi's rejection to the national team
Coaches' carousel
Ernesto Pellegrini's farewell

5' min read

The day of shame. A devastating blow. A sporting massacre. A new Korea. A rump to be completely rebuilt. Poor us, what are we talking about?

It has a surreal effect to return to the 5-0 that overwhelmed Inter in Munich. Even though we know that after all we are still talking about football, about a Champions League final, it feels as if we are returning to the rubble of an earthquake, of a biblical catastrophe, of a national disaster with weeping fans, fierce rivalries, deaf grudges, the sense of a complete wreck. Yet we are talking about the same team, until Saturday 31 May, considered the most structured in Italy. With an envied squad of players considered stronger and more complete than Napoli itself, which even if after 38 matches has won the Scudetto, there must be some reason.

The symbol of this debacle is of course Simone Inzaghi, who went from altar to dust in the space of ten days. From bench strategist transformed into 'a poor man crushed by a humiliating scoreline'. A poor man who, after losing the Scudetto to Napoli, failed to reach the second Champions League final in three years. An emptiness to lose, who has already admitted he does not know if he will go to the World Cup for clubs, already ready, in the general belief, to cut and run to Arabia with a suitcase full of millions.

Acerbi's rejection from the national team

And the players' faces? Lautaro's desperate look, Barella's frustration, Acerbi's anger who, no longer knowing what to come up with, refused a call-up to the national team like a student who no longer wants to go to school because the teacher gave him a good four. Perhaps deservedly so.

Before we begin to understand why the most fearsome team in Italy, capable of beating Bayern and Barcelona, has become a band of pensioners, good only for volunteering, perhaps it is better to ask ourselves why this very strong group of players, paralysed by anxiety and fear, melted away in twenty minutes in front of a team of kids who seemed to be flying.

Psg's kick-off, with that ball thrown forward like in rugby, was enough to understand how it would end. Duè and his team-mates dominated in lightness, with the cheerful face of those who know nothing is precluded to them, in front of bamboozled adversaries, incapable of reacting in front of that hurricane.

But how did this incredible metamorphosis happen? Psg may be strong, but the Nerazzurri still beat Barcelona, who are not the last in line. The best explanation came from Donnarumma when he told of how Luis Enrique, the Psg coach, led them to the final. "He made us calm, without any pressure. As he always does, leaving us at home with our families. We arrived serene, without anxieties, without fears'.

The opposite of Inter who arrived in Munich with the weight of all those speeches about the obligation not to fail a season (the infamous 'zero tituli'), and with those constant reminders of the Inter of the Triplete and the great Inter of the 1960s. And then all those proclamations about the pride and responsibility of a group that need fear no one.

Indeed, nice result! Crushed by the weight of not having to fail the second Champions League final in three editions, the Inter fans disappeared into thin air. Like Spalletti's national team at the European Championship against Switzerland. Empty, drained, cooked by the feeling of being inadequate. That Psg are stronger, there is that, but not by dropping their trousers like this. With that five-goal deficit, never scored in a final.

Enrique's greatest lesson, running like a happy little boy around the field, was precisely his ability to convey both strength and cheerfulness. Enough of these wax museum faces! In football, you win and you lose. You cannot always win the Scudetto. Nor can you win the Champions League, which was lost this year even by Ancelotti, the world's most successful coach.

Starting over at Inter will not be easy. The wound will be felt. A renewal will be necessary, starting with Inzaghi, a coach who seems to have lost not a final, but the centre of gravity of his professional life

The Coaches' Carousel

It is all football in Italy that has lost its pitcher. With this perpetual merry-go-round of coaches going from bench to bench. Take Juventus: now Comolli has arrived, the new manager in place of Giuntoli, who had arrived from Napoli with the aura of someone who does not miss a beat. But how many refoundations has the Bianconeri club made in recent years? How many coaches has it burned, starting with Sarri and ending with Thiago Motta?

How much money was spent to arrive at a mediocre fourth place with the inclusion of Tudor, who it is still unclear whether he will stay?

And Milan? After a crazy season, they hired Allegri as if he were the man of providence. The man of order who will put everything right. But wasn't Allegri sent packing from Juventus as the first representative of an old and unimaginative football? And what can Allegri do if the club sells him important players like Reijners and Hernandez?

Those who worked well, investing with ideas and resources in the future, was Atalanta, which is also parting ways with Gasperini. The coach has a desire for new adventures and the one in Rome fascinates him. It is not an easy challenge. Gasp leaves a comfort zone that he will not find in Rome. He will have to put himself to the test again in an environment that is not generous with discounts. But Gasp has courage, he puts himself on the line, so hats off to him.

The farewell of Ernesto Pellegrini

A thought, a final farewell, goes to Ernesto Pellegrini, the former Inter president who died a few hours before the Munich match. A strange coincidence, like a bad omen. Sciur Ernesto, however, would not have been so dramatic. He was a wise man, born into a peasant family and raised at the Verri accountancy school.

He took over the club in 1984 from Ivanoe Frizzoli with a handshake and a cheque for six billion lire that anticipated the arrival of Rummenigge. Ernesto was a simple man, but by working and valuing his employees, he soon became the king of the restaurant business. He never forgot his popular roots by helping those who had not had the same good fortune as him. He won a Scudetto and two Uefa cups. Although he never raised his voice, everyone at Inter knew that they could count on him. He was also a good man, a quality that is increasingly mistaken for a flaw.

Pellegrini loved Inter without fanaticism. After a defeat, eating breadsticks because he suffered from an ulcer, he would repeat: 'Tiremm innanz', let's go ahead, let's roll up our sleeves. He would say it again this time, with that shy smile of someone who knows that these are not really the knocks of life.