There are echoes of the 2009-10 season in how Inter had to put a bad loss in Serie A behind them to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League in the Nerazzurri bouncing back from last week’s loss to Spezia with their draw in Porto yesterday.
This parallel is noted in today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews, who note the fact that, on their way to the Treble in 2010, the Nerazzurri had to find a way to beat Chelsea after the disappointment of a shock loss to Catania in the league.
Inter certainly didn’t expect to lose on their trip to La Spezia, and will not have felt that that result was the ideal note on which to come into their vital Champions League round of sixteen second leg away to Porto.
However, the Nerazzurri struck a defiant tone by putting that frustration in the rearview mirror immediately with an excellent defensive display to keep a clean sheet and preserve their first leg against Porto.
In 2010, Jose Mourinho’s edition of Inter found themselves in a similar situation, suffering an unexpected defeat away in the league.
A 3-1 loss in Catania was hardly the ideal result to have lingering in the memory heading into a knockout match against a fearsome Chelsea team.
However, the Inter team managed to beat the Blues 1-0, and in the same way, this one have proved their mettle by getting the needed result against Porto.