Legendary striker Ronaldo believes “six years without the Champions League were meaningless for Inter”, and now they must target loftier goals.
Il Fenomeno famously cried on the bench as the Nerazzurri lost the Scudetto to Juventus with defeat at Lazio on the final day of the 2001-02 season.
On Sunday night the current side took a 3-2 win over the same opponents to secure fourth place and Champions League football.
“They avenged us, and I thank them for that,” Ronaldo told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Legendary striker Ronaldo believes “six years without the Champions League were meaningless for Inter”, and now they must target loftier goals.
Il Fenomeno famously cried on the bench as the Nerazzurri lost the Scudetto to Juventus with defeat at Lazio on the final day of the 2001-02 season.
On Sunday night the current side took a 3-2 win over the same opponents to secure fourth place and Champions League football.
“They avenged us, and I thank them for that,” Ronaldo told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“It was a great gift for the Inter fans and also for us who didn’t manage to do it. We wanted it so much, only we can know how much.
“Inter didn’t win the Scudetto we could have won, but this qualification for the Champions League isn’t worth less – in a certain sense.
“I’m happy, now Inter are where they should be. Six years without the Champions League were meaningless for Inter, unsustainable for the fans, the name and the project of the club.
“How many times have I said it? Whenever I spoke with anyone in the past few months it always ended with: ‘first we have to return to the Champions League’.
“They’ll need to stay there for a while, but yesterday’s [Sunday’s] game was a good start.
“At the decisive moment of the match Inter put in something more: it had happened before this year, but not always. And certainly almost never in recent years.
“A friend said to me: ‘Inter would have lost a game like that in past years, 100 per cent’. Instead they won, and that makes all the difference in the world.
“But listen, the Champions League is a lot, but that's not everything.
“Fourth place never has been and never can be an objective for Inter. “Fighting for the Scudetto is difficult, but Juve can’t not have a rival like Inter…”
Is that due to the influence of Luciano Spalletti?
“I don’t know in detail what he did at Inter this year, but I’m convinced that while Coaches can adapt a bit they never change. And Spalletti, when I was playing in Italy, was like that: a hammer with clear ideas.”