We at SempreInter.com are proud to present a new editorialist to our team, Richard Hall, who starting today and every Thursday looks back to the glorious history of Inter by highlighting a certain match, a hero or any other event in Inter’s glorious history worthy of being labelled Nerazzurri Classic’s.

The 2004/05 campaign saw the beginning of a new era at Inter as Roberto Mancini came in as head coach. His aim was to build a side that would once again be the main power house in Italian Football. Massimo Moratti had decided to take more of a back seat and welcomed in club favourite Giacinto Facchetti as club President, a move applauded by the fans.

The club was littered with talent and boasted the likes of Adriano, Francesco Toldo, Christian Vieri, Edgar Davids and Juan Sebastian Veron amongst their ranks as well as four players who would go onto win the memorable treble five years later. The squad was expected to challenge for honours but by the time they faced Udinese in round six they had drawn four and only won one, this coming away at Atalanta. The team were scoring goals but leaking them just as quickly.

It was due to this indecisive start that nerves were high when the visitors from Udine arrived in October. Inter needed to start the game quickly and came close early on with Andy van der Meyde volleying just wide of the post. Moments later and Vieri was fouled, a free kick awarded a full 35 yards from goal. Only one man hovered around the ball, nobody really expected him to shoot, but then Adriano stepped up and unleashed a fearful drive that evaded the Udinese wall and flew into the top corner. The ball was hit with such ferocity it actually threatened to pierce the away sides net, however, Adriano celebrated and the Curva went into raptures.

Udinese responded well and very quickly won a corner, Inter packed the box keen not to leak another soft goal that had been so prevalent in earlier games. As the corner swung in it was cleared out of the box to Adriano who picked the ball up ten yards from his own box, there was no stopping him now. The San Siro gasped as they watched him glide from deep, shimmying past defenders all the way to the opposition box, the Brazilian looked up and blasted home a red hot finish, only to be followed by the white hot celebrations. Adriano had been having a decent start to the campaign but these two goals saw everybody walk away from the San Siro talking about one thing, Adriano.

Inter ended the first half with chances coming close for Adriano and Vieri but when the second half got underway it was a surprise to see the back line that had looked so dominant switch off allowing Stefano Mauri time to slot home a clever finish. Udinese’s hopes of a revival did not last long and when Vieri was put through with a sublime pass his strength and pace ensured that he was in the position to slot the ball home past the keeper with deadly precision. Adriano was the talking point with two blissful goals, this led Inter to believe that this could be their year. Unfortunately his form only continued throughout the first half of the season and the Nerazzurri finished a respectable third. Overall this was a disappointment and despite winning the Coppa Italia it felt that this team had more potential.

Get in touch with Richard Hall on Twitter: @Gentleman_Ultra