Marco Materazzi was his usual brutally honest self when discussing Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez and why he is “certain” Ronaldo wanted a return to Inter rather than Milan.
The World Cup winner was at San Siro from 2001 to 2011, leaving a year after the Treble campaign, and did not hold back during an Instagram Live chat with Sebastien Frey.
Marco Materazzi was his usual brutally honest self when discussing Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez and why he is “certain” Ronaldo wanted a return to Inter rather than Milan.
The World Cup winner was at San Siro from 2001 to 2011, leaving a year after the Treble campaign, and did not hold back during an Instagram Live chat with Sebastien Frey.
“I don’t like this thing where you have to shake the opponent’s hand after the final whistle. I appreciate someone who won’t shake my hand because I annoy him. It’s better to maintain respect and honesty.
“Shaking hands is fine if you feel like it, but it shouldn’t be an imposition. For example, I wouldn’t shake Benitez’s hand…”
Materazzi has never disguised his personality clashes with Benitez, who lasted only six months on the Inter bench after replacing Mourinho.
“Jose was phenomenal, he knew how to keep the right level of tension going. At half-time in the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, he told us: ‘We are playing too well, we have to be worse!’ Fantastic.”
Matrix was at San Siro for a decade and reveals Ronaldo could’ve returned to the Inter side of the city rather than Milan in 2007 after the clash with Hector Cuper.
“I’ll tell you something I know for certain: Ronaldo would have wanted to come back to us. He didn’t even want to leave in 2002. I got on my knees in the dressing room, begging him to stay, but he said: ‘No, it’s me or him.’ And there I realised he was going.
“I could’ve gone to the Rossoneri too, but I remained because Giacinto Facchetti asked me to. Scoring in the Derby della Madonnina was a dream come true for an Interista like me. I only scored one in the derby, but it was a good one!”