I was fairly confident: the derby win just before the international break was that pivot needed to change the course of the season after the elimination of Europa League and the dismal results in the Serie A. As days passed by, my optimism grew. Icardi resumed his training and all seemed to be going well.
Except that Luciano Spalletti had other plans.
Despite the lengthy intermediation between Icardi’s representatives and Inter (through Marotta & Zhang) which ended positively, the coach reopened the discourse by not selecting him for the vital Lazio game. This, despite Icardi training for almost two weeks while others were playing for their national teams. And this, despite the fact that Inter had no pure central striker after Lautaro’s injury.
I couldn’t believe Spalletti when he justified his decision saying that Icardi was not fit. After all, Keita had been away receiving treatment for three months but was used almost immediately.
But the straw that broke the camel’s back was Luciano Spalletti’s post-match comments after the Lazio defeat. I couldn’t believe my ears hearing the man publicly attacking Mauro Icardi in such a fashion, saying he wasn’t a player who made a difference (citing Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi as examples).
Spalletti also described Inter’s efforts to bring back on board it’s former captain as ‘humiliating’, adding that Icardi spent six years at Inter without getting a Champions League spot.
Now is the ideal time to remind you that this article isn’t a question of whether you side with Icardi or Spalletti. In my opinion, Icardi’s reaction was something to be condoned and certainly not excusable. But I believe that such things should be addressed in Summer, and not in the most important period of the season when you’re battling it for a top four finishing.
Which brings me to Spalletti. How can ever a coach publicly attack one of his own man? The same player who love him or hate him, scored more than a 100 goals for Inter in one of its hardest times? How could Spalletti ever give such damning post-match comments to the media who were always hostile to the Nerazzurri?
Was there another way? Yes, and Mourinho is the best example. Let’s go back to April 2010 for the legendary Inter-Barcelona semi-final when Mario Balotelli ignored his teammates pleas to press, and after a dismal performance threw away our sacred Inter shirt to the ground. Remember how all the fans were infuriated and how his colleagues wanted to knock him out? Mourinho tackled it by regenerating mentally the player to go back to the pitch the following week, score goals and win games. And so he did. And so we won the famous Treble that season. After all of it ended, Balotelli was sold as a result of his attitude.
The same applies here. I’m not entering into the merit whether Icardi should be sold or not. What I’m saying is that there are only 9 matches left, and it is imperative to close the season in third place. After that ends, Inter could sell whoever it wanted, I cannot care less, but only after the season ended and Inter finished in third place.
Inter has a glorious and proud history. So glorious and so great that I cannot imagine leaving ego-centric primadonnnas take the scene to the detriment of Inter’s season objectives.
One may argue that Spalletti simply told the truth about the Icardi saga. Even though I don’t agree with this stance, the truth was not convenient for Inter to be told, especially in public, and Spalletti knows this. Yet he did spilled it out, causing untold harm to Inter’s image, morale and reputation.
As a result, we have arrived at a point of no return. We cannot be led by Spalletti anymore, especially if he keeps on with this attitude that he wants to be the main protagonist, pushing aside Inter’s interest. This is simply not on.
We deserve better. Much better.
James J Piscopo is a journalist based in Malta. At 27 years old, he has been following Inter for more than two decades. He writes a weekly editorial exclusively for SempreInter.com.
