Inter vs. Celtic: Mancini’s Nerazzurri Show Signs of Promise in Europa League

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It wasn’t Inter’s finest hour. That they needed to labour to a 1-0 win at home to a side from the periphery of European football says a lot about how far the Nerazzurri still have to go, but during Thursday’s Europa League clash with Celtic there were some signs of new life at the San Siro.

There was a look of stoic resignation to the Scottish side’s play after Virgil van Dijk was sent off in the first half, but the 2010 European champions still needed another 52 minutes, and a piece of improbable individual skill from Fredy Guarin, to score against their visitors.

The Colombian’s wonderful strike came just two minutes from the end, a singular flash of brilliance that cancelled out 90 minutes of communal mediocrity and secured progression to the last 16. Which, in a nutshell, is the defining problem with Inter. 

For all of the current squad’s many flaws, it’s not without talent. There’s sometimes been a tendency to tar them all with the same brush in recent seasons, but there is a core of valuable, talented players currently at Roberto Mancini’s disposal. 

The issue is whether the 50-year-old can add depth to that spine before they’re lured off elsewhere by the promise of silverware. 

Guarin, Mateo Kovacic, Mauro Icardi, Gary Medel, Samir Handanovic, Xherdan Shaqiri, Lukas Podolski—all gifted footballers who would be useful to most top European teams. Even the likes of Hernanes and Rodrigo Palacio are functional. The trouble is that once you look past that handful of stars, the Inter squad is shockingly impotent. 

Massimo Moratti’s final years at the helm of the good ship Inter were characterised by under-investment and misguided faith in ailing abilities. Wanting to balance the books is fine—more than that, it’s admirable—but several clubs in Italy and abroad have shown that it is possible to be competitive without spending a fortune, once your club is managed well. 

And that’s something that Inter hasn’t been over the last few campaigns. The post-Mourinho hangover has now lasted almost five years—an eternity in modern football. The glory of that Champions League final night in Madrid has long since faded, and now all that remains are a few lingering recollections of what it was like at the top of the game.

Somewhere between then and now, the Nerazzurri took a wrong turn. Mancini is the seventh manager to sit on the bench since Mourinho left, and they’re without a trophy since the 2011 Coppa Italia. For a team that won so much in the last decade, that scarcity of success should have had alarm bells ringing much sooner.

The jury’s still out on whether or not Mancini is really the man to turn things around. The ex-Manchester City boss enjoyed a triumphant four years at the San Siro during his first tenure, but that was a very different time. 

In the post-calciopoli mire, only Luciano Spalletti’s Roma could muster any kind of challenge to Inter’s hegemony in Serie A. And the Sensi family’s money problems meant that the Giallorossi were never really able to make that final step from contenders to champions, so the Nerazzurri were largely in a league of their own. 

Now, Mancini finds himself in different circumstances. There’s a different owner, and instead of taking over a squad full of players at the height of their powers, as he had in 2004, he’s now in charge of an extremely patchy group of players who are wallowing mid-table. 

On the face of it, Mancini wasn’t the most obvious candidate for Erick Thohir to hire to pick up the pieces at a club down on its luck. His critics would say that he’s always preferred the easy jobs, and despite his success he’s never really been tested. It’s likely that his first Inter, and his Manchester City, would have won anyway, almost regardless of who was on the bench. 

The 1997 Serie A Footballer of the Year does have an affinity with the club though, and it’s likely that his disappointing spell at Galatasaray has created a desire to prove himself. If Mancini can return La Beneamata to winning ways, it will silence the doubters and end the debate about his abilities as a manager. It might even get him the Italy job, something you get the feeling he’d relish. 

The second leg against Celtic wasn’t the first improvement that Inter have shown since Mancio took the reins, but it was perhaps the most characteristic. Up until now, there were still timorous echoes of the disorganised mess that had cost Walter Mazzarri his job. 

Against the Scottish, by contrast, the Nerazzurri looked like Mancini’s old Inter, albeit with fewer star players. They were solid without being spectacular, tight at the back, calm in possession and ultimately clinical when a slim chance presented itself. And they looked confident, which is probably the biggest turnaround. If they can keep it up, they might yet end the season on an unlikely high note. 

Aside from the obvious lure of a medal, continuing this run also represents their best chance at qualifying for European football next term, because currently Inter are four points and three places off Fiorentina, who occupy the last qualification spot in Serie A. Even if it’s the ugly sister of continental competition, it can be a valuable proving ground for Mancini and a useful way to restore a winning mentality in Milan. 

There’s a long way to go from narrowly beating a side from the SPL in the Europa League’s Round of 32 to being competitive at the sharp end of the Champions League again, but for now, Interisti will take what they can get. It might not be much, but it’s a start.  

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