Jose Mourinho is set to leave Internazionale after masterminding their 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich last night thanks to a Diego Milito brace.
The 47 year old has guided The Nerazzurri to a domestic and European treble this season as they become only the sixth club to reach this marvelous feat and become the first Italian team ever to do so.
Argentinean striker Diego Milito opened the scoring at The Santiago Bernabeu on the half hour mark after he flicked on Julio Cesar’s long ball up field to Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder who fed in the former Genoa man to latch onto before lofting the ball past Bayern keeper Hans-Jorg Butt to give him his 29th goal of the season.
Bayern enjoyed much of the possession for the majority of the game but it was the Italian champions who had the killer instinct as a wonderful solo effort from Militio wrapped up Inter’s third European Cup as he elegantly turned Daniel Van Buyten in the Germans defence before slotting the ball into the net in front of The Serpent’s adoring faithful. Militio bagged his 30th goal of the campaign whose debut season with the Milan outfit has been spectacular following his multimillion pound from Genoa last summer.
Mourinho rejoiced together in an array of emotion with his player’s and staff as Inter ended their 45 year drought of no European Cup success. The special one was left in tears as he becomes only the third coach in history to ever win the European Cup with two different clubs following in the footsteps of Ottmar Hitzfeld and Ernst Happel. He guided a modest FC Porto side to greatness six years ago in Germany and now he’s brought the Italian champions to the forefront of the European game. It was down to veteran and Captain Javier Zanetti to hoist the beautiful silverware aloft in what was his 700th appearance for the newly crowned European champions.
It was a pleasure to see the departing Mourinho enjoy the celebrations with his colleagues, on the pitch of potentially his new home. He left FC Porto in similar circumstances six years ago after leading them to European glory and subsequently departed for the English Isles and Chelsea. Mourinho failed to take in his achievement in Gelsenkirchen as he immediately left the field after Jorge Costa and Vitor Baia lifting the famous cup and abruptly scoured down the tunnel. Although this was his last game for Inter nothing was going to deter him away from the jubilation as he paced passed the Inter faithful clutching the flag of his homeland Portugal bidding his farewell.
His future was still very much in the air after keeping his cards close to his chest all week in the build up to the showpiece final. However following his undisputed accomplishment with Inter he told Sky Sports that although he was overcome with elation and joy, he would be leaving with a lump in his throat as he believes he has managed his last game for The Cherished One.
“It’s an incredible season. At this moment there is not many words to describe how I feel because I am so happy, so proud. At the same time I am so sad because, almost for sure, this is my last game with Inter.”
The special one is bound to leave with a heavy heart as he has been adorned to by the Internazionale supporters. Mourinho paid homage to his friends and he also gave a huge indication to his future insisting the Santiago Bernabeu may be his new house.
“Inter is my house, the same way Chelsea is my house. It was difficult to leave Chelsea – if I leave Inter it is difficult to leave. But that’s life, that’s football.”
“After Chelsea I thought it would be impossible to have the same kind of relationship with supporters. I have two houses – Stamford Bride and San Siro and a third house, probably Santiago Bernabeu.”
He went onto to confess that a player or manager who fails to be employed by Los Blancos has a huge space left on their career.
It is reported that Madrid president Florentino Perez had already wrapped up a deal for the former Chelsea boss on Friday evening. The special one did not arrive back in Milan in the early hours of this morning with his current employers as it appears talks with Real’s representatives are underway.
The Inter players celebrated their achievement in the early hours of the morning in Milan as they were greeted by 40,000 spectators in the San Siro.
It seems as if it’s a foregone conclusion that Mourinho is heading for La Liga as he attempts to add a Spanish championship to his ever growing CV. At just 47 years of age it is impossible not to see him lift a third European cup within his career, and if that is with The Galacticos, time will tell.