Football is a game made up of moments, little details and an element of luck, but to truly look at the state of a club one must look at an overarching period and maintain a sense of the overall picture.

Two years ago, on the 24th November 2016 Inter lost 3-2 Away to Hapoel Be’er Sheva. They had just lost home and away to the Israeli club and were condemned to a last place Europa League exit. Inter’s worst ever group result in a UEFA competition. Rock Bottom.

The 16/17 Season was probably the darkest year of Inter’s post-triplete era, which was made even more disastrous by the carousel of Managers – Mancini was sacked days before the season started, De Boer lasted only two months, Stefano Vecchi took temporary control until Stefano Pioli was hired but he too was then once again replaced by Vecchi as Caretaker before the end of the season. Inter finished the season in 7th place, outside of any European places.

Enter Spalletti, June 2017. Suning were starting to invest in all areas of the club and there were some shrewd signings made despite the ever-present FFP restrictions, but with no European football to play this season the squad was small. Skriniar, Vecino, Gagliardini and Borja Valero all proved to be positive and most importantly cost-effective signings (Particularly Skriniar for €23 Million given his recent CIES valuation of €70 Million).

Now, bearing in mind the horror show that was the 16/17 season Spalletti had a hugely difficult job trying to resurrect this squad and getting more out of the key players and the initial 16 game unbeaten run up to December was testament to Spalletti and the ‘Grinta’ he had brought to this team. The run that followed the 3-1 reverse to Udinese on the 16th December 2017 was potentially catastrophic and threatened to undo all the hard work Spalletti and the players had done in the previous 6 months.

But this was a new Inter. They didn’t know when they were beaten. It looked like they were going to miss out on a Champions League place once again when Higuain scored the comeback winner for Juventus on 28th April and even more so when Politano scored that clever freekick for Sassuolo on 13th May. But this Inter kept themselves in with a chance and travelled to Rome knowing a win against Lazio would secure their first Champions League place since the 2011/2012 season. “La Prende Vecino” and the rest is history. A dramatic 3-2 win secured a Top Four finish and Inter took a giant leap forward to returning to its former glories.

The summer was filled with optimism and the signings of Nainggolan, Keita Baldé and Lautaro Martinez really caught the imagination of the Inter faithful. But with Champions League football returning to the San Siro, Inter needed to increase their squad depth despite being handicapped by the FFP agreement, which stated they couldn’t spend more than they received. De Vrij and Asamoah both arrived on free transfers and the arrivals of Politano and Vrsaljko were accompanied by the departures of Kondogbia, Nagatomo and Eder.

Spalletti had assembled a squad that looked capable of challenging Juventus or at the very least securing a comfortable Top Four finish and giving the Champions League a good fight on its return after nearly seven years.

Inter were at a disadvantage in the Champions League from day one. Because of the previous results (or lack of appearances) in European Competitions Inter were in Pot 4 for the Champions League draw and were likely to get a difficult group. Sure enough Barcelona, Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven came out of the hat and Inter were already written off by many from the ‘Group Of Death.’ To make matters worse Inter were restricted to a smaller squad due to the FFP agreement which meant the only midfielders in the squad were Brozovic, Vecino, Nainggolan and Borja Valero with Gagliardini and Joao Mario being left out.

Two fantastic results against Tottenham and PSV showcased Inter’s new ‘never say die’ attitude in the opening two rounds and set the dreams alight that Inter could escape the group despite only picking up one point in their next two matches against Barcelona.

Inter only needed a draw at Wembley against Tottenham to qualify but despite the electric support of the 4,800 strong away fans, and an admirable defensive performance against one of the best attacking teams in Europe it wasn’t to be as Eriksen secured a 1-0 victory late on that took the dream of qualification out of Inter’s hands and into the final game.

Here we are, 11th December 2018, two years after that debacle against Hapoel Be’er Sheva and the constant Managerial merry-go-round, with 10 minutes to go at home to PSV, Inter were qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League at the expense of Tottenham.

Alas, it was not to be. The football Gods had different ideas and with Lucas Moura equalizing for Spurs against Barca in the 83rd Minute, Inter needed to go and find a winner against PSV but squandered numerous chances and ultimately the experience and quality of Tottenham and Barcelona knocked Inter out. Inter were out of the Champions League on an away goal.

Spalletti is by no means the manager that is going to lead this Inter to a Triplete and maybe not even a Serie A title but one thing is for sure and that is he has improved this squad a hell of a lot in 18 months. Just look at the radical improvements of Brozovic, Joao Mario and the rise of Skriniar.

With the imminent arrival of Marotta and the recent appointment of Steven Zhang as President the future is bright on and off the pitch and there is a clear identity and path again to this squad. They are fighting for each other, the team and the fans and there is a desire and quality that hasn’t been seen since Mourinho left the club.

The Champions League was always going to be a steep learning curve, even more so given the handicaps that Inter faced with FFP and seedings. The aim at the beginning of the season was to comfortably secure a Top four finish and compete in the Champions League. Inter went toe-to-toe with two of the best teams in Europe and showed they can challenge them both. Inter are also still on track for a Top three finish and may yet even challenge Napoli for second place.

It is now time for Inter to regroup, focus on Serie A and put in a good run in the Europa League with a good chance of reaching the latter stages of a European competition and gaining more experience before returning next year to the Champions League bigger and stronger and ready to move on to the knockout stages.

Besides, who would rule out going all the way in the Europa League given it is now also a path into the Champions League and a chance of silverware?

Football is a game of little details, moments, inches … What if Lautaro’s 94th minute headed chance last night had fallen to Icardi? Then this could have been a very different article.

Inter are in a far better position now than they were two years ago so let’s look back at this match in another two years and see how Inter have (hopefully) carried on improving and challenging for major titles.

Have Patience. Keep Faith and Forza Inter Per Sempre.