Another futile Euro campaign signals Mancini’s end

Roberto Mancini has stunned the footballing world by announcing the end to his tenure as Inter Milan coach following another premature Champions League exit, this time at the hands of Liverpool.

Despite leading his side to consecutive scudetti in 2006 and 2007, and a hat-trick seeming inevitable with Inter dominating Serie A this term as well, it is consistent failure on the peninsula that has aggrieved the club’s tifosi and, less vociferously, the upper management of the club.

Inter have one of the strongest squads in the competition but poor discipline and tactical naivety has cost them any chance of progress to the latter stages in recent times.

Mancini is just 43 years of age and one of the most prodigious coaches on the European scene, highly respected by his peers and demonstrating great ability in spite of his relative youth and inexperience. Inter have benefited from greater recent stability; Mancini has been the key behind their recent upsurge in fortune. He is the most successful Inter coach in a decade, having led the Milan outfit to two Coppa Italia, two Supercoppa Italiana and, of course, the league crown so craved for so long by the club.

Yet on the continent, it has been a bizarre tale of hugely contrasting fortunes.

In his first season in charge, Mancini led Inter to the last eight but their progress was halted after crowd trouble forced the forfeit of their second leg against rivals AC Milan, meaning an overall 5-0 aggregate defeat having lost the first leg 2-0 and been outplayed by their Milanese counterparts.

In 2005/6, after again topping their group, Inter squeaked into the quarters with a narrow win over Ajax before meekly departing at the hands of an inspired Villarreal side that specialised in holding onto a slender advantage and did so at El Madrigal. A 1-0 victory ensured progress on the away goal rule after the Nerazzurri’s 2-1 first leg success.

A pattern was beginning to form, and last season the away goal curse struck again, evidently very painfully into the hearts of the Inter players as a mass brawl broke out between them and opposition Valencia players after the Spanish side had edged through following a 2-2 draw in Italy and 0-0 stalemate at the Mestalla. It meant suspensions aplenty, and after crowd trouble in 2005 and further team indiscipline against Villarreal in 2006, it was patent that Mancini’s squad were lacking the necessary steel and mental edge required to triumph in Europe.

The current campaign began with the scudetto tied up and attention turned to success in the Champions League as the season’s chief objective. But the omens were not good.

Inter still had players out through suspension from the previous season’s competition and reinforced the point that their temperament wasn’t right with two avoidable red cards in a routine home win over PSV Eindhoven. Two more dismissals were to follow in the first knockout round defeat to Liverpool, and although both were extremely harsh, Inter’s recent history of misdemeanours hardly led to widespread empathy.

Those two red cards were the reason Mancini’s men exited early once again; both were brandished with the score at 0-0 and the game evenly poised. Liverpool were in poor form when Il Biscione visited Anfield, and the away side looked the more likely to break the uneasy deadlock before Marco Materazzi stupidly saw red. With a miracle required at San Siro, the hosts had plenty of time on the clock when Nicolas Burdisso decided to tempt fate and his departure signalled the exit of both his team, from the Champions League this season, and his coach, from the club, forever.

Mancini had, however, failed to deliver over four years and decided he would leave through the front door before those upstairs grew restless and booted him out the back.

“The next two and a half months will be my last as the coach of the squad,” he said. “I have already told the players and it is only natural now to announce it to everybody. It’s a decision that I had already made and it is not due to tonight’s defeat.”

Early rumours suggest that Mancini could be on his way to England – with Chelsea a potential option, and the most probable – with his son already there, on loan at Manchester City, and his English said to be excellent. In the long-term, he has been touted as a possible successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United when the most successful British coach in history decides to retire. While the smaller clubs in the Premier League would warmly welcome Mancini, it is unlikely he would be swayed to step down a level even if it is in order to coach in one of the strongest leagues on the globe. Unquestionably, plenty of job offers will be heading his way between now and the end of the season.

And who to replace the former Sampdoria striker? His European adversary Rafa Benítez has already been linked, and the current Liverpool incumbent did not completely quash the rumour when offered the opportunity, “I am happy at Liverpool and happy with my team and being in the Champions League quarter-finals.” Yet the favourite must be José Mourinho, a coach who has long been an admirer of Italian football and especially Inter. It was clear from the moment he left Chelsea that Italy was his preferred destination – and one of the biggest jobs in the country has just become available.

For Mancini, it has been a successful reign. Inter finally won the scudetto for the first time since 1989 and it was joined by all the other domestic silverware on offer. But his success in bringing the league title to the club meant expectations quickly escalated, and the Champions League was anticipated to be the next trophy in the cabinet for the first time since 1965.

With San Siro’s other half winning it twice in the last five years and coming up runners-up on one other occasion, jealousy was rife but Mancini could not deliver the ultimate piece of silverware to complete the set and ensure utter contentment for everyone involved with Inter, from the fans up to owner Massimo Moratti.

Perhaps their time will come a year from now, when the final comes to Italy and the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It would be a rather ironic victory, ‘Internazionale Milano’ triumphing at their spiritual home rather than in Athens or Moscow where their array of foreign talent ought to have shone bright. But perhaps Inter are in need of a little inspiration from home if their Champions League trophy drought is to come to an end.