Inter returned to the European cup game lining up against Celtic in the Europa League. The game that is a replay after the 1967 European Cup-final has great tradition and importance and the stadium was boiling upon kick off. I probably don’t speak for myself when I say that the You’ll Never Walk Alone song gave me goosebumps and off we went.
I claimed before the game that it was important to kill of the enthusiasm in the stadium quickly and it seemed like Mancini and Inter thought the same. Palacio and Shaqiri gave Inter a comfortable lead and that should’ve been game really. Instead defensive horrors lead to Celtic coming back to 2-2 in just 76 seconds. When we needed it the most Palacio took advantage of a huge mistake from Celtic’s goalkeeper Gordon and scored the 3-2 goal for Inter. Halftime came and surely, the madmen in the back couldn’t combine something new to lose this?
After all. Shaqiri was playing a world class game. Palacio scored two goals. Icardi’s movements were right. Inter looked hungry and stood up well. They put up an intensity that I haven’t yet seen in the Serie A this season and showed that they weren’t afraid of Celtic’s fans, stadium or team. The longer the game went, the more it felt as if Inter needed another goal and of course, in the last minute there was another defensive horror that kept Inter from taking a great result with them to the San Siro. The game ended 3-3 and the return leg is wide open.
The only feelings in my body were great anger but also great disappointment. Here we are, being up both 2-0 and 3-2, which would mean having 2/3 positive results to advance to the next round and here we throw it away as if it was a piece of chocolate in a chocolate factory. Giving away wins like this in this way is the utter proof that this team doesn’t have the right mentality to get to the top yet and also that keeps the team prisoner of itself. The mentality is so weak that not even a really mediocre team like Celtic feel like they have anything to lose against Inter.
I am sorry for Palacio who scored two goals and didn’t become a hero, but I’m mostly sorry for Shaqiri who had a perfect night performing like a star only to be betrayed by the clownes that are his defending teammates.
