Chances of Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League – Part 7
As Inter Milan played Samuel Eto’o in the place of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jose Mourinho also brought on a striker from the Italian side Genoa. The name of the striker was Diego Milito and the Argentinean was 30 years old when he wore Inter Milan’s jersey.
Many fans criticized Jose Mourinho for his decision but it was soon seen that the special one actually imported one of the finest strikers in Italy. Looking at Diego Milito’s record, it was simply clear that the Argentinean striker was no less than an extraordinary
goal scorer. He consistently kept on scoring at least twenty goals every season and while playing for Genoa he showed football fans that dribbling and speed are not really what matter, goals are – he was simply a great finisher.
Diego Milito proved his worth for Milan by constantly scoring for the Italian champions. During the UEFA Champions League, it was Milito again who consistently scored goals for Mourinho’s side and even though they had Samuel Eto’o in the team, it was Milito
who usually found the net as he was played in the centre of the pitch as a striker, while Samuel Eto’o pace was being utilized on the right wing and the Cameroonian was busy cutting in from the right flank.
With Eto’o on the right and Goran Pandev on the left, Milito simply had no problems finding the net as he was well assisted by these two wingers and Wesley Sneijder was the one who used to be right behind him to help him with great through balls. Milito
was deployed inside the 18 yard box so that he could finish the ball and score goals for the team.
Diego Milito, during the UEFA Champions League, found the net a lot of times and it was his luck that he actually scored against all the big teams of Europe (big teams at that time). He scored against Chelsea and helped his team qualify for the quarter final
stage. Chelsea were winning the English Premier League during those days and they were later crowned Champions in England later on. Therefore, it was Diego Milito who totally thrashed the English Champions’ dreams to become the champions of Europe.
Later, Inter Milan had to face CSKA Moscow who were competing to become the Russian Champions during those days. Diego Milito scored against them and became an Italian sensation as goals kept coming from his foot.
After qualifying for the semi final match, Milito was ready to “entertain” the Spanish Champions at the home ground of Inter Milan, the San Siro. Barcelona defeated the Italian Champions during the group stages of the tournament but this time things were
different as it was considered to be a knock out round and both the teams were serious to qualify for the final. For the Italian it was important because they had not gained any European glory for the past 45 years while Barcelona were the defending Champions
and were fighting for glory.
With Barcelona in the San Siro, no one thought Jose Mourinho’s side was going to defeat the Spanish team let alone demolish them. For the past year with Barcelona under Josep Pep Guardiola, the Catalan giants never lost a game with a two goal margin but
it was Mourinho’s side that actually won the game 3-1 as two of the three goals scored by Inter Milan were scored by Diego Milito and the third goal was assisted by him. Diego Milito totally showed everyone that he was not only a player who would shine in
Italy but someone who could reach out to the European teams and score against them as well.
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