Most Memorable Matches of Inter Milan

Like any other football club of such a caliber, Inter Milan has gone through both triumphant and barren periods in its lifespan that encompasses more than a century. Boasting about 40 home and international trophies, Inter team has given its loyal fans hundreds of unforgettable moments.

The club has been on a lucky streak in recent years - however, lots of rumors circulating around the change of ownership, management, and sponsors make its future vague. Suning Group, the Chinese conglomerate that owns the controlling interest in the club, has reportedly fallen behind with the player's salaries. Other partners, such as StarCasino, have proven stable, making online gaming and betting services the most reliable type of football sponsors in the ongoing decade. You have an opportunity to see that for yourself by playing online slot games for real money.

Amidst this uncertainty, we decided to take a look back at the glorious moments of the club that forged the legendary Inter we know today. Below in the article, we are revisiting some of the matches that wrote history and made Inter Milan an integral part of the world's football legacy.

Serie A

The First Scudetto (1910)

Right off the bat in the 1909/10 season, Inter won its first national league gold medals. This trophy was earned not without controversy, though. At the end of the season, Inter had the same number of points as Pro Vercelli. The Italian Football Federation has scheduled the decisive match for 24 April 1910. Pro Vercelli asked to change the date of the match due to the fact that four of the team's players at that time were levied to the Italian army team. Nerazzurri refused, and in protest, Pro Vercelli put up against them a team of young and inexperienced players, who eventually lost 3:10.

The Biggest Home Victory (1915)

On 10 January 1915, in front of the crowded wooden stands, Inter crushed Vicenza with an avalanche of goals - a result that remains the club's best to this day. At that moment, both teams enjoyed incredible results in the tournament - the Venetians had won 8 out of 10 matches, while the Nerazzurri had done even better, with 9/10 wins and a goal difference of +52. In the return match, Vicenza managed to keep it a draw with a score of 0-0, enough for Inter to enter the final round, finishing in third place, behind Genoa and Turin.

Meazza's Hat-Trick (1930)

In the last round of the tournament, Inter (then named Ambrosiana) played away against Genoa. In case of victory, the latter would outperform Inter by overall points and take the trophy. The Genoese were leading 3:0, and Nerazzurri were demoralized. To make matters even worse, all of a sudden, one of the stadium stands collapsed under the weight of the crowd. When the match resumed, some out-of-this-world inspiration struck Meazza, and he scored three goals in a row, all thanks to solo runs from the centerline. The game ended a 3:3 draw, and Inter secured its third Serie A title.

The Biggest Triumph Over Juventus (1954)

In the 1953/54 season, Inter and Juventus, being head and shoulders above the rest of the teams, fought among themselves for the Scudetto. The first match held in Turin did not reveal a winner; the teams tied 2:2. The second leg was to be held in Milan seven rounds before the end of the championship. The teams approached the match, taking the first two lines in the standings. Juventus, which had a thirteen-match unbeaten streak, needed a draw to retain the first line, unlike Inter, which needed a win. In addition, it was a crucial match for the Nerrazuri coach Alfredo Foni, who defended the colors of the Bianconeri for thirteen years.

This was the season when one of the best Swedish football players of all time, Lennart Skoglund, shone in Inter. On the eve of the match, the Swede promised the club's management to refrain from going to drinking establishments, but if Inter won with a difference of three or more goals, the club would provide him with two bottles of the best whiskey. Inter defeated Juventus 6-0, and the Swedish striker scored two goals and gave three assists. This defeat was the biggest defeat for Juventus in the Italian derby. After the match, Lennart Skoglund jokingly regretted that he did not demand four bottles of whiskey for such a result. The defeat cost the Torinese dearly. At the end of the season, Internazionale, ahead of Juventus by one point, secured its second championship in a row, becoming seven-time champions of Italy.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Golden Team (1989)

33 years ago, Giovanni Trapattoni's Inter faced the Napoli of Maradona and Careca on the 30th matchday of Serie A. Before the kick-off, the classification read: Inter 50, Napoli 43. A victory would have brought the Scudetto number 13 to the Nerazzurri, while a defeat would have reopened the way to Napoli for a possible comeback.

San Siro anxious - Zenga saves to lock the Nerazzurri goal. A roller coaster ensues, with Napoli taking advantage of Careca's goal in the 36th minute. After the break, Baresi appears on the field - on top of his game, as always during that season: he scored the equalizer, with a volley deflected by Fusi. The climax didn't happen until the 38th minute of the second half: the cannon shot from a free-kick by Matthäus left the rival's goalie helpless and delivered the Scudetto number 13 four games before the official season end. The record of 58 points per season would come on the last day with the victory over Fiorentina.

The Most Spectacular Milan Derby (2006)

The first match of the Milan derby in the 2006/07 season, which took place on 28 October 2006, was called one of the most spectacular Milan derbies of all time by the press. In a tense match, during which seven goals were scored, Inter won with a score of 4:3. After the first half, Inter was leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Crespo and Stankovic.

At the beginning of the second half, the score became 3:0, but then Milan reduced the difference with a goal from Clarence Seedorf, to which Inter responded with a Materazzi goal in the 68th minute, making the score 4:1. Immediately after this, Materazzi earned a second yellow card for a violent goal celebration and was sent off. Having gained a quantitative advantage, Milan continuously stormed the goal of Inter until the very end of the match and managed to score two goals in the 76th (Gilardino) and 90th (Kaka) minutes, but there was not enough time to win back the gap of three goals and equalize.

The second Milan derby of this season on 11 March 2007 also ended with the victory of Inter: Milan could only answer the goals of Cruz and Ibrahimovic with a single goal scored by the Brazilian Ronaldo, who had played for Inter for a long time and moved to Milan during the winter break in the championship.

Champions League

The Breathtaking Debut

In the 1963/64 season, the situation in European football changed significantly. This is eloquently evidenced by the Champions Cup final in Vienna, in which Helenio Herrera's Inter beat Real Madrid 3-1. Thus, the tactics of catenaccio paid off, allowing the "black and blue" to celebrate the triumph.

Internazionale could boast of a brilliant line-up - in the ranks of the Milanese there were libero Armando Picchi, full-back Giacinto Facchetti, Spaniard Luis Suarez, Brazilian Jair and the legendary Italian midfielder Sandro Mazzola.

In the first round of the tournament, Inter defeated Everton with a total score of 1:0, then took over Monaco and Partizan and left Borussia Dortmund out of work in the 1/2 finals. The winner of the previous Champions Cup, AC Milan, defeated Norrköping, and the 1/4 finals played against Real Madrid. In the capital of Spain, the hosts won with a score of 4:1 and lost at the San Siro - 0:2. However, the "Royal Club" reached the semi-finals, where they easily knocked out Zurich.

The victory over the Swiss club was the last joy of the season for Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano. 38-year-old attackers could not break through the defense of the Nerazzurri, but Mazzola shone. The striker had two goals, and Aurelio Milani scored the third goal against Real Madrid.

The Most Scandalous Derby Della Madonnina (2005)

In the 2004/05 Champions League season, the draw brought the two Milan teams together in the quarter-finals. The first match, in which Milan acted as the nominal owner of the field, ended with the victory of the Rossoneri with a score of 2:0 (balls were scored by Jaap Stam and Andriy Shevchenko). The return match, which took place on 12 April 2005, gained notoriety.

The first half of the game ended with Milan winning 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by Andriy Shevchenko. In the second half, referee Markus Merk disallowed a goal scored against Milan by Esteban Cambiasso on the basis of a non-obvious foul against the Milanese goalkeeper Dida and then sent the midfielder off the field for arguing. Inter fans, annoyed by the referee's decision, began throwing firecrackers, bottles, and other objects on the field and launching flares. One of the rockets hit the right shoulder of Dida, who came out of the goal to remove the bottles from the field.

Merck stopped the match in the 74th minute; after a half-hour break during which firefighters were called in to remove flaming firecrackers from the field, the match was restarted; Dida, who received a bruise and a first-degree burn and could not continue the game, was replaced by Christian Abbiati. However, a minute later, bottles and firecrackers again flew on the field, the match was stopped by the referee's decision.

Inter was given a forfeit defeat with a score of 0:3, and the club was also fined in the amount of €200,000 (the biggest fine in UEFA history) and had to play its first home game in the next Champions League in an empty stadium. Dida's injuries were not serious; he quickly recovered and did not miss a single match as a result of this incident.

The Third Champions League Victory (2010)

A match of equal rivals was expected at the Santiago Bernabeu - both Inter and Bayern made doubles that season, winning their national championships and the country's cup. For Inter, winning the Champions League was needed to cement their superclub status, as its dominance in Italy after Calciopoli and the subsequent sanctions on Juventus was seen by many with skepticism. On the other hand, Bayern, for the first time since 1999, got the opportunity to make the treble, which Manchester United then deprived it off in that dramatic final.

The first half saw an equal rivalry; the teams did not stay at their goals but tried to attack. Both teams had moments, but it was difficult to call them surefire opportunities. Inter scored in the 34th minute as a result of a simple combination: Julio Cesar kicked the ball hard into the opponent's half of the field, Diego Milito passed it to Wesley Snyder, and, having received a return pass, slipped in between the two defenders, sending the ball into the goal past Butt.

At the end of the first half, Milito and Snyder switched roles - now the Argentinean acted as an assistant, and the Dutchman was supposed to score but struck directly at the goalkeeper. At the very beginning of the second half, Thomas Muller got a super chance, but Julio Cesar parried his shot from outside the penalty area, and in the return attack Goran Pandev hit above the goal from a lethal position.

Bayern began to put pressure, the score obliged them to go forward. Louis van Gaal threw Miroslav Klose into the fight, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, and Ivica Olic had moments. But Inter survived, and in the 70th minute, Diego Milito scored the second goal in a counterattack. After it, it became clear that Inter would win - Jose Mourinho's teams never surrender victories under such circumstances.