Internazionale Milano - Il Ritorno

basham97 - Thank you very much!

After being absent for a couple of months I will finally return to the site and to this story! Some new updates are coming right up!

2015-05-06 12:53#212649 Kippax : After being absent for a couple of months I will finally return to the site and to this story! Some new updates are coming right up!

Il Ritorno of a great story welcome back!!

Icarus - Thank you Icarus! Good to be back

Today the groups were drawn for this year’s edition of the UEFA Europa League. Luís Figo, who usually appears on the stage during these events, sat in the crowd seemingly nervous about his first experience of a draw as a manager. However the draw did not cause him any major concerns. Inter were drawn into a very favourable group consisting of Wolfsburg, Bursaspor and Jagodina. Even though Wolfsburg is a top contender in the Bundesliga bookies name Internazionale as the favourites to win their group.

"We always respect our opposition. No matter the competition we always want to win and in order to do so you have to be humble towards your opponent. Winning the Euro League grants direct qualification to Champions League which we definitely aim to compete for."

You can trash Wolfsburg at home they play a very open defense anyway, and early on the season they got serious injury problems.

Maybe a slight exaggeration, but with the squad Luís Figo has to his disposal a goalless draw against Napoli and a 3-0 win against Parma has to be seen as great results for the rookie-manager.

Napoli was certainly not the team Figo wanted to face in his Serie A debut. With versatile attacking midfielders in Insigne, Hamsik and Callejón and a deadly finisher in Higuaín on top the southern Italian team were favourites against an unproven Inter-squad. But Inter played well defensively and Napoli did not manage to get a single shot on target, much thanks to solid defensive contribution from the Chilean midfielder Gary Medel.

Following an inspired effort against Napoli Luís Figo surprisingly changed from a 4-man defence to a 3-man defence. In many ways a more defensive philosophy however Inter showed off their offensive attributes. It was the tenacious box-to-box midfielder Hernanes who paved the way with a well-placed shot from distance. Minutes after Danilo D’Ambrosio put in a cross which an inspired Mauro Icardi banged into the back of the net with ease. In the 91th minute Hernanes added to the scoreline once again in similar fashion as his first goal ending the game 3-0.

Whoa the composition is really on top, I wonder how long it took you! also good results

Icarus - Thank you! It didn't take that long actually Haha Wolfsburg will be quite the challenge, Lord Bendtner!

Lord Bendtner! he scored 20 goals by November for me as TM haha

Icarus - Hahaha, LORD!

20-year-old Mateo Kovacic has been a key figure in Luís Figo's team and several clubs are watching the Croatian midfielder, amongst them Real Madrid and Barcelona. Even though he's under contract until 2018 he has expressed his wishes to join a bigger team in order to play in the Champions League. And when the Spanish giants come knocking, who is he to turn them down?


Inter kicked off the Europa League group stage with a clash against Turkish side Bursaspor. Internazionale fielded a fairly unrotated squad with Juan Pablo Carrizzo and Breel Embolo being the only obvious rotational players. Bursaspor played defensively like a side managed by José Mourinho with 10 men inside the penalty area. Even though winning possession 68% to 32% Inter failed to convince in the attacking third. It was only because of an impressive solo performance by Matteo Darmian down the right wing followed by a well-placed header from Pablo Osvaldo in the dying minutes of the game that Inter were able to get away with 3 points.

Following their midweek-clash with Bursaspor Internazionale traveled to Bergamo to take on Atalanta. Inter showed no signs of jadedness and ran circles around the aged Atalanta defenders. The aggressive approach payed off and Mauro Icardi was awarded with a penalty in the 13th minute. He made no mistakes and put in the back of the net behind Atalanta’s South African goalie Itumeleng Khune. From that moment on the game was characterised by physical play from both sides resulting in several free-kicks. Hernanes took advantage of that and put the ball in the woodwork with a 35-meter free-kick allowing Mateo Kovacic to make it 2-0 on the rebound. Late substitutes Federico Bonazzoli and Libor Kózak linked up well and the Czech target-man closed up shop with a close-range header.

Welcome back Kippax and good luck!
Perhaps you can go all the way in the Europa League

Are you looking at possible replacements for Kovacic?
I'm guessing it won't be long until you receive an undeniable bid for him.

Stam - Thanks Stam! I'm currently looking at some possible January-signings depending on how the season goes on But Kovacic will definitely be hard to replace.

Five games into Serie A season Inter find themselves at 11 points and in 3rd place behind Juventus and Roma. A respectful start for newly appointed Luís Figo even though they’ve faced considerably weaker opposition. Their league position is much thanks to Brazilian national Hernanes great form which has rewarded him with the Player of the month award.

Internatzionale was favoured in their home-clash against relegation tipped Chievo Verona. However the Verona-based team impressed at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium and managed to get away with a draw. The main reason being the Inter-loanee Francesco Bardi who had a fantastic day between the posts.

In the game against Genoa Inter quickly took control with a lightning-fast goal from in-form Hernanes. Mauro Icardi then doubled their lead with a lethal header on a cross from Matteo Darmian. Genoas Brazilian striker William dribbled past Ranocchia and Handanovic and could knock the ball into an open net. Inter quickly responded and this time it was Darmians turn to score, he was served by Rodrigo Palacio who has just returned from injury.

At the start of the second half the game quickly lost its excitement. With Inter staying back and not even trying to attack and Genoa not having the quality to be able create anything dangerous. Genoa midfielder Franco Mussis created some excitement in the last minutes of the game as he reduced with a well placed shot which made the final scoreline 2-3.