Materazzi: ‘Inter missed out on 2 Scudetti; Italy faced aliens in the 2006 World Cup final’
Materazzi waves at Inter fans at San Siro (GETTY)
Marco Materazzi believes Inter should have more league titles to show for the squad they have assembled, and still regards the France side he beat in Berlin as the better team on the day.
Speaking at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, with quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, the former defender was asked how he rates the current Inter.
“For four or five years I’ve been saying Inter are the strongest, and we’ve probably left two Scudetti on the road,” Materazzi said. “Last year a lot of people had doubts about Chivu. I said that having the Club World Cup was positive, to immediately wipe the Champions League final from the players’ heads. Cristian did well, you can see it from the embrace with the players at the end of the season, you can see the empathy and intelligence he had.”
Materazzi: ‘Inter need to concede less’
He is less comfortable with the pattern that has defined Inter’s start to this season, with the Nerazzurri recovering from two goals down in three consecutive league matches.
“That shows how strong we are, but you have to go onto the pitch concentrated every time. When you go two goals down you then come back, it’s happened twice already. But enough now, let’s hope we win them all and concede less,” he laughed.
On the treble season, Materazzi recalled a straightforwardness from Jose Mourinho that he clearly appreciated.
“That year I knew I wasn’t a starter. I’d spoken to Mourinho and he made things clear. When someone does that from the first moment, he isn’t telling you lies and there are no tricks. I knew perfectly well what my role was: to help the team achieve important results.”
He also revealed a prediction before the 2010 final. “Ahead of the Champions League final I asked Mourinho: ‘What are they like?’, about Bayern Munich. And he said: ‘Relax, we’ll win 2-0 and you’ll come on.'”
Asked to compare that night to the 2006 World Cup final, where he scored the equaliser and was headbutted by Zinedine Zidane, Materazzi was generous about the opposition.
“At the 2006 World Cup we faced aliens, but as you well know, in football it isn’t always the strongest who win.”
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