Will Rafael Benitez Bring More Championships to Inter Milan?
At this point for Inter Milan, there is almost nowhere to go but down.
After all the Italian giants have won five straight Scudettos (league titles) and are coming off perhaps the best season in the club’s history as they won the Treble, winning the Coppa Italia, Serie A and the Champions League.
A new manager
Much credit from their success goes to the architect, the “special one” Jose Mourinho who proved why he is the world’s greatest manager.
Mourinho departed to Real Madrid shortly after Inter’s victory in the Champions League, saying he was looking for new challenges and was looking to become the first manager in history to win the European Cup with three different teams.
Inter wasted no time in finding their new manager, as Rafael Benitez became available following a poor season for Liverpool in the Premier League.
Benitez is inheriting a phenomenal team that features the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Julio Cesar, Javier Zanetti and 19-year-old wonder Mario Balotelli.
The Spanish coach is confident that he can take this team of superstars and lead the club to the kind of success that it enjoyed in the two seasons under Mourinho.
Benitez looking forward
Benitez is coming off a very disappointing final season at Liverpool but he is inheriting a better team and feels good about where the team is. He feels he can lead the club to further success in the coming years: "We are here to do the thing that everyone wants to do, which is to triumph with a winning club like this one,” Benitez said.
"We have the same mentality of last season and we want to work together and win from the first day.
Benitez will certainly bring a new flavour to the team. While Mourinho was a defensive minded genius whose tactics frustrated opponents, Benitez is a more offensive minded coach which will likely lead to a change in the way the Nerazzuri play this season.
"This is a new project with a new coach, with a club that wants to achieve the same things as last season. Everyone has their own ideas but we don't want to change things with respect to last season. I have spoken to the club president Massimo Moratti and he wants to win. He doesn't want to wait, he wants to win and learn.”
Benitez will also have fewer responsibilities. He will be the coach and not a full manger like he was at Liverpool. The Spaniard spent six seasons at Liverpool winning the Champions League in 2005 and making it to the final once again in 2007. He is a world class coach and he’ll enjoy the fewer responsibilities he’ll have at the San Siro.
"In England I was a manager and here I am a coach. Here we have a sporting director and a president that have their responsibilities. They do their job and I have to focus on the players that we have right now”
Inter may have to get ready for a completely new style of play though as Benitez may employ more attacking tactics than Mourinho.
Rafael Benitez cannot do too much to shake things up at Inter though. The team has a very good chemistry and they know what it takes to win. The team is full of champions and Benitez understands that. He knows the kind of team he’s getting and he wants to help keep the tradition of winning going for the Nerazzurri.
Benitez has big shoes to fill replacing Jose Mourinho but more championships will build his name in Milan and he has a great chance to do it with such a great team.
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