Marcello Lippi explains what went wrong for him at Inter – ‘if I’d had Vieri and Ronaldo…’.
The Coach enjoyed enormous success in two spells at Juventus, as well as winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy, but was sacked by the Nerazzurri one game into the 2000-01 season.
“I consider it step, you can’t win all the time,” Lippi told Corriere dello Sport of his experience at San Siro.
Marcello Lippi explains what went wrong for him at Inter – ‘if I’d had Vieri and Ronaldo…’.
The Coach enjoyed enormous success in two spells at Juventus, as well as winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy, but was sacked by the Nerazzurri one game into the 2000-01 season.
“I consider it step, you can’t win all the time,” Lippi told Corriere dello Sport of his experience at San Siro.
“There are ups and downs. I’ve had a lot of high points, Inter is a low, like many others I’ve had. The reasons aren’t important – it was a great team, a great club, it just didn’t work out, that’s all.
“That said, we came fourth in the League, won in a play-off with Parma to get into the Champions League and lost in the Coppa Italia final to Lazio. So I wouldn’t call it a failure.
“When the second season began, after the game in Reggio-Calabria [a defeat to Reggina] my time was immediately cut short.
“Typically great friendships are born out of situations like that. A name? I’d have to say [Christian] Vieri.
“One night I was having dinner in a restaurant, and I felt a big hand on my shoulder.
“It was Bobo, he said ‘come, sit here’. We talked for a long time, and have never stopped trusting each other.
“He’s linked to my biggest regret at Inter, among others. The strikers were Vieri and Ronaldo. Both in their prime, 26-years-old, something to scream about.
“With various injuries, however, they only played together three times. The Brazilian broke down right here in Rome against Lazio.”
Lippi also reflected on the more successful parts of his career, including his extraordinary first spell at Juventus, which brought the Champions League and three Scudetti.
“I’ve won beyond all expectations, because I’ve always followed the philosophy of little steps, there isn’t a final objective.
“When I Coached for the first time in Serie A, that was the best, I was overjoyed, and the same when I arrived at Juventus.
“But there are little moments which are worth a lifetime. After a 1-1 for my Cesena against Udinese, the President came to me and said ‘well done Lippi, we’re behind you, keep going like this’. I assure you, that’s the best feeling you can have.
“It happened the same at Napoli, or at Juventus after my first Scudetto, when I hadn’t even won Serie B. Before the objectives had been staying up, or the European places – there it was the title.
“It was a nice way to open a cycle, especially at a club which had been waiting for it for 10 years, and ours was a cycle with a capital C.
“Scudetto-Champions League-Intercontinental Cup. Add in Supercoppe, various cups – a dozen trophies in eight years.”