Lippi's Revenge
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It was the return match of the third round of the last championship. At the "Delle Alpi" stadium the worst Juventus ever trained by Lippi hosts Parma, which is fighting for the title with Lazio and Milan.
The Emilian team easily wins, and therefore continues to hope, but above all it forces the Juventus management to end a cycle. The trainer does not even wait for a communication from the club, but during a press conference he announces his resignation, the first of his career after years of triumphs. Of that evening, many spectators still remember Malesani's euphoria, Parma's coach, who threw in the air the ice pack used to mitigate the pain in a hand he twisted because of his excessive happiness.
The third match of the current championship. The same Parma team and the same Veronese trainer enter the "Meazza" stadium with the hope of managing to recover from an unpredicted negative period. Parma needs to win after two lacklustre performances. Also, Malesani is in a critical situation. He has to confront with Lippi, the new trainer of a mortified Inter that has chosen the former Juventus trainer to pick up again. Football, too, has its historical recurrences. This time roles are exchanged; on this occasion the match is easily won by "Marcello il Bello", the Paul Newman of football who, like many characters played by the American actor, can play the role of a cold and merciless executioner. In fact, his team pierces Parma's weak defence five times. And on other occasions Buffon, Parma's clever goalkeeper, is very skilled, thus avoiding an even worse defeat.
This time the picture changes, too: the trainer host of the "Meazza" stadium wrings his hands, being conscious of having suffered a crushing defeat. His gaze onto the field after the match is meaningful...A career as trainer of the supposed strong Emilian team hung by a thread. Is this for Malesani one of the last matches with Parma?
Let's talk now of the merits of Inter and of the trainer longed for, pursued and finally signed up by Moratti. Last season, Inter continued to make mistakes. Now Lippi has been able to restart from zero and regroup a loose team. The result is a fast start that reminds of the record championship won more than ten years ago by Trapattoni. At that time, too, it was Milan that stirred the pride of its "cousins" by winning the title the year before. The way things are now Inter supporters also cling to this, to a cabal according to which when Milan wins the championship, Inter very often wins the title the year later. Relying on historical recurrences is often a good solution. And Lippi himself, as already said, knows that by experience.
 

 

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