Carlo ErminioLike his grandfather, he has never denied it and publicly acknowledged it. When I was little, his heart was Nerazzurri. He never knew exactly because his father, Giuseppe, was de la Fiorentina, but the fact is that he, Carlino, as they called him on the Via Vallicella, in his native Reggiolo, tifava for Inter and his favorite player was Sandro Mazzola, although he also vibrated with the goals of Boninsegna. “At the age of six, the first shirt I had was Mazzola’s. In life it is important to have reference points. People who are role models and mine, as a child, after my father, obviously, was Mazzola. For me he was the best in the world. “
Possibly because of that interista past, everything related to that club has been marked in his memory even though he has never defended his shield. Three moments. The first, when I was a child, 12 years, the first time he saw his team live. The second, 19 years, when he was a Parma player and played a test friendly with Inter. And the third, when he had not yet started to walk alone as a coach and he received a call from the interista president, Massimo Moratti, to find out to what extent he would be interested in sitting on the bench of the club he had just bought.
Mantua. Reggiolo was not far from Milan, barely 170 kilometers, translated into a couple of hours on the motorway, but Carlino never managed to get his father, always busy with his eight-hectare farm, to take him to San Siro to witness a match live of his Inter. He must have insisted so much that at the age of 12 his father made a hole in his tasks with wheat, corn, beets, vineyards, cows and chickens and was pleased to take him to Mantova (40 kilometers), then with the club in Serie A, where Inter coached by Giovanni Invernizzi arrived as a visitor. Estadio Danilo Martelli, January 16, 1972. Sunday. Father and son come across the unpleasant news that there are no tickets.
Carlino’s tears were falling, according to what he himself told in 2009 to The Republic. Actually, the crying was provoked. He was trying to soften the heart of the goalkeeper on duty. He didn’t get it until the second half. Finally she let him in. It was the first time he saw his soul team live. There were his admired Mazzola, with the 10 on his back and the captain’s armband, Boninsegna, who scored two goals, Burgnich, the great Facchetti, the artist Course, Orials… Set victory by 1-6. Carlino was never as much from Inter as that cold and cloudy afternoon.
Good impression. Years passed. May 1978. A few days after turning 19, Ancelotti played for Parma in Serie C and he was then in the heat of the fight for promotion to Serie B, which in the end he achieved with two goals from our protagonist (3-1) in the promotion match against Triestina in Vicenza. He already stood out as a midfielder and in some games, Cesare Maldini, Paolo’s father, who was the coach, placed him behind the reference striker, Scarpa. That season he scored seven goals. In full swing, Parma let Ancelotti play a friendly with Inter, who had his eye on him and wanted his signing.
San Siro, May 20. The rival, the Hertha from Berlin, in which three footballers who were also on the club’s radar played neroazurro: Granitza, Kristensen and Hans-Joachim Forster. At the moment of truth none of the three played and the game became the great Carlo test. Bersellini was on the bench and Beltrami, technical secretary, and Mazzola, his assistant, in the box. The three were responsible for issuing the report.
“My excitement was enormous. I was going to play in front of Mazzola. I almost pooped myself.”he commented one day between laughter. His great idol, retired a year earlier, was the one who had to assess his evolutions. For the story remains the line-up of Carlo’s only match with the Inter shirt and 10 on his back. Cipollini; Canuti, Faithful; Oriali (F. Baresi), Gasperini, Bini; Pavoni, Roselli, Anastasi, Ancellotti (Tricella) y Altobelli (Vigano). Yes. Ancellotti, with a double ‘l’, appeared that day on the roster of the line-ups. Inter won 2-0 with goals from Altobelli and Anastasi. Before, an Inter-Milan of veterans had been played and he was also able to see another handful of ex-footballers who had marked his childhood.
Several Italian newspapers covered the meeting. The Gazzetta dello Sport, in a chronicle of Alberto Cerrutti, highlighted its evolutions: “Longilíneo midfielder endowed with good technique. Very interesting. He immediately stood out for his ingenuity in the offensive phase. “. That good impression further confirmed Inter’s interest. In fact, he trained for a week at La Pinetina at the request of the coach, Bersellini. Carlo does not forget, by negative, the experience: “I had a hard time, I wanted to leave every day. I wanted to be discarded. The technician weighed me daily and I couldn’t take it anymore. He told me that if I stayed he was going to put me on a special diet and finally I went back to Parma. “There was no agreement between his club and Inter. Parma asked 750 million lire for half the pass. Instead, Inter signed Beccalossi, the other emerging player in Italy. Ancelotti followed a year at Parma, already in Serie B, and the next he signed for Roma.
Respected by all. Ancelotti ended his professional career as a footballer in 1992 and it was already clear to him that he wanted to be a coach. The first opportunity was given to him by Arrigo Sacchi, who called him to work alongside him in the blue Team. Three years. The coach was already evaluating the possibility of flying alone when he received a call from Massimo Moratti, who in February 95 bought the club where his father, Angelo, had made history as president by winning two European Cups.
“He called me at his office and told me he was looking for a coach. I was surprised and took my time. I had a Milan player inside me and I told him I had to talk to Sacchi and find out what he thought. Finally, he stayed with Ottavio Bianchi and I left the national team to take charge of Reggiana, my first club as a coach. Who knows what would have happened if Moratti and I reached an agreement. “
It was not the only time that Moratti had Reggiolo’s coach in his prayers. For example, when he dismissed Rafa Benítez (2011) and Carlo had finished his adventure at Chelsea. This was recognized in Sky News: “When you want to change things you always think of great coaches and Ancelotti is. He is someone respected by all and has the merit that with all his clubs he has obtained excellent results“.
Face to face. As a player and coach, Ancelotti has a positive balance against Inter. As a footballer for Roma and Milan, he faced each other 17 times with 9 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses. As a Romanist he did it in 13 (7-3-3) and as a Milanist, in 4 (2-1-1). As a coach, Inter have been his third favorite rival after Lazio and Roma, whom he has faced in 34 games. With up to six different teams he has seen the faces against the nerazzurri, with a total of 33 games: 17 victories, 5 draws and 11 defeats. His duels are the majority as a Rossonero coach: 19 (10-3-6). Parma (4 games), Juventus (5), Chelsea (2), Naples (2) and Real Madrid (1) are the other five clubs with which they have lived their particular rivalry with Inter. In the case of his current club, the duel dates from 15-9: victory at San Siro with a goal from Rodrygo.
The first Italian executioner of Madrid
The Inter, Tuesday’s rival of Real Madrid, It was the first Italian club that beat the white team in the European Cup. That triumph did not come until the end of the ninth edition and, in addition, it caused a cataclysm in the club chaired by Santiago Bernabéu. After the defeat of Vienna (3-1), Alfredo di Stéfano was terminated after eleven successful seasons in which he had won five orejonas, eight Leagues, a Cup and an Intercontinental Cup.
Before meeting their first Italian executioner in that Prater final, Real Madrid had always emerged victorious in their duels with the Italian boot clubs. In the first edition (1955-56) they eliminated Milan in the semifinals. After 4-2 at the Bernabéu, a minimal defeat in San Siro (2-1) catapulted the whites to their very first final.
Luis Suárez and Amancio, with Puskas in the background.
In the second (56-57), the Italian rival arrived directly in the decisive match. As champion in exercise, Real Madrid played host to the final and defeated Fiorentina (2-0). Also the third European Cup brought another final with a representative from the Alps. Milan reappeared on the scene in Brussels in a very close match that Paco Gento resolved with a goal in extra time (3-2).
After the triple confrontation in the first three editions, in the next three Real Madrid did not see any Italian club on its horizon and had to wait until the 61-62 season to meet a new rival, Juventus. The tie was not resolved until a third game. Quarter finals. Both teams won away (0-1) at the Comunale and at the Bernabéu and in the tiebreaker, at the Parc des Princes in Paris, Muñoz’s men won 3-1.
After the disaster of the following season (62-63), in which Real Madrid lost to Anderlecht at the first exchange rate, the consecutive course returned to staging the direct rivalry against the Italian clubs and this time twice. In the quarterfinals, the enemy was Milan. A 4-1 at the Bernabéu is almost spoiled on the return leg, where the Rossoneri won 2-0. Processing in the semifinals, with an 8-1 aggregate against Swiss Zurich for the Whites to qualify for their seventh final of the top European competition in nine years.
After the first defeat against Benfica in 62, in Amsterdam (5-3), the whites had the spirit of revenge, but they found a Inter full that with the help of Helenio Herrera was going to become the best team on the continent. Luis Suárez Miramontes, who four years earlier had received the Ballon d’Or, was one of the stars of that glittering Inter. The end of the Prater is etched in his memory with all kinds of details.
“My teammates were impressed because the great Real was in front, as they said in Italy. I was a little less nervous than them because with Barcelona I had already maintained the rivalry. We got a great game. We quickly lost our fear and deserved the victory. We went 2-0. Felo scored, a canary that Madrid had, and Mazzola, who had already made one, scored the third. Sandro played a great game and we became known internationally because until then we were a team to walk around the house “.
The direct Inter-Real Madrid rivalry has continued throughout the decades both in the last century and in this one with clashes in the three continental competitions. Only against two other European clubs, the whites have made the treble: PSV and PSG. In the European Cup / Champions they have seen each other in 12 games with six victories for Whites, five for Inter and a draw. In the UEFA Cup, four games with two wins and a knockout each. In the Cup Winners’ Cup, two matches with white in the 82-83 quarter-final tie.