A CHAMPION TEAM (article in English and Español)

We are arriving to the Christmas´s holidays and therefore the European football´s team have played many games during this current season and we can extract one conclusion: there are 2 team, FC Barcelona and Inter Milan, which are showing a powerful level and they are the main candidates to be the European Champion this season.

We will speak about FC Barcelona in the next article when we make an analysis of the derby between FC Barcelona-Real Madrid (of course we will speak about dismiss of Schuster and the arrival of the overvalued Juande Ramos). So, on this article we will focus on the clear dominator of the Italian football, Inter of José Mourinho. We said many times that we are fans of the work of the Portuguese coach, who is our favourite coach, since it does not matter where is he, since his team is always a synonym of power, authority, tactical rigor and discipline( Mourinho demand the maximum to all the players and if some player does not work 100%, Mou takes hard decisions no matter the name of the player, as we saw during this season when José Mourinho was unhappy with the performance of players like Marco Materazzi-he is an Inter´s institution-, Ricardo Quaresma-this player has the same agent(Jorge Mendes) as Mourinho and of course it is always difficult to take hard decision in these cases- or Mario Balotelli-he is a “protégée” of the medias and the tiffosis). So, he has always a super-competitive team and of course now he is building an Inter with these characters. If we have to find a word to define the current Inter, this word is solidity, because it is a team built from the defence and where players have only one obsession in their heads: work and solidarity.If we say that Inter is a solid team and that a team rival has many difficulties to score a goal when it play against Inter- Inter has received 8 goals in 15 Serie A´s games (it has already played against the top scorer´s teams of the championship: Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, SS Lazio, FC Genoa and Udinese Calcio)-, it is thanks to the excellent play of the different players like for example the Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who is playing very well since some year ago and we can say that he is the best goalkeeper of the year in the European leagues, showing a brilliant level, security and calm in each game. Obviously, Julio Cesar is not alone to carry out his task and he has the fortune to play alongside excellent 4 defensive players like the impressive brazilian right back, Maicon, who is showing an high level, being possibly the best offensive right back of the world; Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba, who are the perfect central defender´s duo, since one is brilliant with the head and the other is a very fast player; and the brazilian left back, Maxwell, who, although he is improving and playing with more confidence, is the worse player in this line and maybe it could be a good decision the arrival of a new left back, a player like for example Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), who has the same characters as Maicon-if Inter could have 2 offensive back, it would be a more dangerous team-.

But besides this good defensive line is helped by the excellent work of the 4 hard central midfielders, whose main role is to defence and to help to central defenders and the backs, especially when Maicon is attacking. For this mission, Mou has finally opted for tough, powerful and experienced player as Esteban Cambiasso-the boss of the midfielder´s line, being a player, who never loses the place and besides he starts the play of the game-, the versatile Javier Zanetti and the competitive Dejan Stankovic and Sulley Ali Muntari-the player from Ghana should change his behaviour, because he shows too much arrogance with his rivals and some day he can have problems…-. So, we can say that the Inter´s rivals have always in front of a line of 8 defensives players and therefore they have many difficulties to can score a goal. But Inter is not only a defensive team, since besides it has a powerful attack´s play, being the top scorer´s team of the Italian Serie A-25 goals in 15 games- thanks to the strategies´s play designed by José Mourinho-Inter scores many goals in corners´s play or free-kick- and of course thanks to the talent of the team's best (technically)player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who shows a superb play in each game: smart, incredible plays and passes(it was wonderful the pass that he made to Maicon last Saturday at the Olimpico against Lazio),incredible vision of the game, beautiful and difficult goals ... in short, a super-player, who has only one problem, his complicated character, which produce a bad behaviour sometimes. In addition Zlatan is helped by the good work of the other strikers of the team as Julio Cruz-he is a synonym of effectiveness, being always in the right place-, Adriano-he is recovering his best level-, Mario Balotelli –he is a talented player and he has a good future-, Victor Obinna-mobility-, or Hernan Crespo, who is always a guarantee. So, Mourinho has a great starting line-up and if some of these players is injured or punished, he can find in the squad other very good players like Francesco Toldo; Christian Chivu, Nicolas Burdisso, Marco Materazzi, Nelson Rivas; Patrick Vieira, Olivier Dacourt, Luis Figo, Mancini, Quaresma or Luis Jimenez ... Who wants more? It is an excellent team, which does not have a rival in the Italian Serie A, since it is in the top position of the standing after a good start of the season(the numbers are: 11 wins, including the exhibits at the Olimpico Rome against AS Roma and against SS Lazio last Saturday, 3 draws and 1 defeat), with a gap of 6 points to its immediate pursuers, AC Milan and Juventus Torino, which will play a derby next Sunday at 20.30 c.e.t at the Comunale of Torino, where they will look for be the only alternative to Inter to try to win the Scudetto. If I must to chose one of these teams as the alternative to Inter, I think that Juventus has more chances to be, since it is making a very good start of the season, despite the decisions of Ranieri-Giovinco´s situation- and the “plague” of injuries in the squad-Buffon, Zebina, Andrade, Trezeguet, Camoranesi, Poulsen or Tiago ... -.So, presumably this team will have better results when all the players are 100%, although I think it will not be enough to win the title this year, because I think that it has a problem in the squad, since we can find players too veterans-Nevded, Del Piero, Trezeguet, Legrottaglie- and we will see if they can be all the season 100% and other player-Chiellini, Molinari, De Ceglie, Marchisio-,who has not the adequate experience to show a good level during the important moments of a game or the competition.
About AC Milan, honestly we do not think that it is a serious candidate to win the title this season, because it is showing a very irregular play without consistency and depending on an individual play of one the stars of the team and specially on a Ronaldinho´s shot and of course this situation is not the best option for a team in order to have chances to win the title…AC Milan has to do once a total change in the team in general and in the defensive line in particular if it wants to be an important team in Italy and in Europe again. They are some players, who were great players in the past, but now it's time to see the goodbye of players like Paolo Maldini (40 year´s old), Giuseppe Favalli (36 year´s old and of course he is a slow player), Emerson (32 year´s old), Filippo Inzaghi (35 year´s old) or Andriy Shevchenko (32 year´s old and he is already far from his best level). We will see if there will be some news arrivals-apart from David Beckham- during the next winter market... Anyway, this will be within a month and before we will have the battle for the second place in the Serie A between Juventus and AC Milan.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

J&F