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There is a quote by legendary Chinese writer Luo Guanzhong, which reads, "Success is not worth rejoicing over, failure is not worth grieving over." Despite digesting the true philosophical meaning behind what Guanzhong so poetically passed on, there is a question that begs to be asked. Recurring, repetitive success isn’t a matter of bother, it’s a matter of pride. But what can one do to pick themselves up if that failure is also of a similarly recurring nature?
Try. Try is all that one can do. Putting minds, hearts and souls to try and engineer a path out of a realm of abject failure and work hard to regain that success and pride.
‘Try’ is exactly something that Internazionale have been doing since over half a decade now with no good outcome yet to grace their efforts. It’s a similar story to their city rivals – the great AC Milan – albeit theirs is a much more complex and historic downfall, a situation much more difficult to navigate through.
From the years 2006 to 2010, Inter Milan were at the pinnacle of Italian football as they conquered the land with five successive Scudettos, including their first top-flight title since 1989.
Roberto Mancini oversaw the first three of those titles, completing a haul of three Scudet in three years and reinstating Inter in the upper echelons of Serie A history.
Jose Mourinho then set foot into the San Siro for his next adventure after conquering England with London side Chelsea. If Mancini restored Inter’s pride in Italy, the Portuguese went on to create a continental legacy for the Nerazzurri by overseeing their first-ever European treble.
Mourinho’s time at Inter was simply iconic due to several reasons, with the most telling influence being that of a Jose Mourinho at the peak of his powers.
Real Madrid came calling for the services of the box office Portuguese head coach. This, coupled with an ageing squad including the likes of Julio Caesar, Javier Zanetti, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and more, arguably led to them falling off the throne.
Inter haven’t tasted success once that core of members was dissolved, including Mourinho himself. After a stellar end to the 2000s decade, the legendary Italian club have had just one trophy to show for in the decade that followed, a Coppa Italia in 2011.
In the years to come, the likes of Luciano Spaletti, Stefano Pioli, Frank de Boer, Gian Piero Gasperini and several other names set foot into the iconic San Siro with the hope of being the hero that the blue and black-striped army needed to bring them back to the top. However, every one of them failed do achieve the task at hand to varying degrees.
After nearly a decade of rejuvenating Juventus by kickstarting their dominance with three back-to-back league titles, Antonio Conte became the next man in Inter's long and illustrious history to try and restore the honour in being a Nerazzurri faithful. The former Juventus midfielder has been one of the most successful coaches not only due to the titles he's won but also because he has been forced to work under more stringent financial constructs than many of his peers.
Due to Chelsea's failure of missing out on several of Conte's reported targets, the former Blues boss charged them to the title with his three-at-the-back system but not with the ideal personnel.
Victor Moses, a failed winger, was deployed as a wing-back, Marcos Alonso was made a starter in his first season with Chelsea on the other flank and Cezar Azpilicueta was made to play at centre-half despite being a full-back by trade.
With the Azzurri, Conte made do without several notable starters such as Marco Verratti and Claudio Marchisio by including the likes of Emanuele Giaccherini, Graziano Pelle, and more. The Italian took his side relatively far in the tournament after registering victories against defending champions Spain and favourites Belgium.
With the Old Lady, the former Italy boss oversaw a revamp that saw over fifteen players move in and out of the club in two years and registered an unbeaten league season in his debut campaign.
Considering his prowess and that he was available, Conte remained an obvious choice for an Inter who were looking for a rebuild. His past as a Juve manager and player, though, had to be overlooked by everyone involved.
Inter's business in the summer was conducted keeping in mind the coach who recently took charge of the San Siro club. Romelu Lukaku, a player who Conte famously tried to sign on two separate occasions before was one of the priorities in the summer and got his man for a reported €65m fee. Atletico Madrid hero Diego Godin was roped in on a free transfer to form a rock-solid backline and other talents such as Stefano Sensi and Cristiano Biraghi were recruited by the Italian.
Conte also reunited with Guiseppe Marotta at Inter, who was the man in charge of almost all of the transfers conducted during their time in Turin. Marotta repeated his superb ability to rebuild a squad and conducted a revamp for his former manager.
He followed up the excellent business conducted in the summer with a string of deals in the winter as well. The former treble winners acquired the services of Tottenham Hotspur ace Christian Eriksen, Manchester United veteran Ashley Young and Conte's former title-winning wing-back Victor Moses.
After a flying start to a season where they were expected to compete for the Scudetto, the inevitable burnout had arrived. New signing Lukaku sparked up an instant connection with Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez. The latter has racked up 11 goals and an assist in 22 Serie A appearances while the Belgian is already at 17 goals and two assists in his 25 games.
A dip in form and Juventus' steady rise combined to see them fall nine points behind Maurizio Sarri's leaders and Inter even faced elimination from this year's UEFA Champions League after Borussia Dortmund and FC Barcelona progressed at their expense. Their squad began to be exposed for the lack of depth across all positions of the pitch and what makes sides of Juve's ilk different to theirs.
11 players in the current Juve squad are over the age of 30 and the rebuild that was initially planned still appears to need a few more transfer windows. The one thing that became clear for everyone to see was that Steven Zhang and co. will have to back Conte thoroughly if they are to witness Inter climb back to the top.
The worst, though, was yet to follow.
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak over the last month or so has left Italy in a tragic state with the tally of both, people infected and fatalities, steadily growing. Serie A suspended the top-flight and now, with all five of Europe's top leagues following suit, the fate of the remaining fixtures across all leagues is yet to be found out.
This, combined with Inter's steady fall in the league and cup competitions is a recipe for what is another disappointing season in Inter's recent history.
Make no mistake, a season such as this over the last ten years would have been appreciated to a great extent given their struggles over that period. This season, the stakes were higher given the money spent, higher expectations and a sense of excitement that the Nerazzurri faithful shared before the start of the season.
As of now, it doesn't matter if Inter win the Scudetto because on certain occasions, it is important to realise that there are more important things in life than football, given Italy and Europe's current state of duress. However, the fact remains that when the dust settles down and European football is finally cleared to restart, the spotlight will be firmly back on Inter Milan and their failure to capture the prestigious Scudetto.
They will begin again with a host of new talents in their arsenal next season under Conte, hoping to do the same thing they've attempted to do over the last decade or so — try.
Because when failure recurs time and again, all one can do is try until the path to success is clear.
