Match Day Preview: Arsenal 1997/1998 vs Inter 1993/1994

The Bergkamp derby.

 1993 was a crazy year for Inter Milan. They had the brilliant Uruguayan magician Ruben Sosa, an Italian defence marshaled by Zenga, Bergomi and Paganin and a midfield boasting Nicola Berti and Wim Jonk. And they had Bergkamp, their star signing from Ajax - who was expected to do for the blue/black half of the city what Van Basten had done for the red/black half. After a pleasantly surprising second place the prior season, the addition of "The best No.10 in the world" was expected to propel Inter to the summit. Instead of challenging for the title they were almost relegated and yet in the midst of a turbulent season they somehow managed to win the Uefa Cup (back when doing so was at least as hard as the European Cup).     

IDWM describe Bergkamp's time in Milan as the midst of a religious war and cover the troubling season as follows: 

"Under Bagnoli Inter had finished in a highly unexpected second place in 1992-93, falling four points short of Fabio Capello’s Milan. With the purchases of Bergkamp and Jonk, coupled with Milan’s Dutch trio now consigned to the history books following the departures of Gullit to Sampdoria, Rijkaard to Ajax and Van Basten’s tragic battle with injuries. Pellegrini felt a little sprinkling of Dutch magic could deliver Inter their first title since 1989.

Bagnoli, the architect of Verona’s famous Scudetto in 1985, had achieved second place with what was the common tactical template in Italy at the time; sit deep and hit on the counter. He used the lightening pace of Ruben Sosa to great effect; the Uruguayan scored 20 goals in 1992-93.

The seeds of Inter’s abysmal 1993-94 season were sown as early as pre-season. Bagnoli makes the claim that Pellegrini never relayed any message about changing the system, and the new season commenced with a style of play that was unchanged from the previous campaign. Bergkamp became immediately isolated on the pitch with little support from Inter’s midfielders. ‘’I’d be up there with (Ruben) Sosa and every game we’re up against five defenders.’’

They began the season indifferently but were making strides in the UEFA Cup with Bergkamp seemingly an invigorated player in the tournament. He netted a hat trick (including a brilliant scissor kick) against Rapid Bucharest in the first round and put Norwich City’s European adventure to the sword with a goal in either leg in round three.

In the defensive quagmire of Serie A, Bergkamp and Inter were floundering in Bagnoli’s counter-attacking system and argues that he couldn’t have succeeded under the coach’s stringent tactics. ‘’I’d be up there with Sosa and let’s say two midfielders have joined the attack as well…I look back and my defenders and other midfielders are still deep in their own half! There’s a huge space between us and it’s dead space! It’s killing me, it’s killing the team.’’

To compound the issue, off the pitch he was struggling too, very much an introvert, he had a hard time integrating himself within the Inter locker room. Both interviewed for his book, Bergomi and Ferri were critical of his unwillingness to socialise with his teammates. Ferri was most vocal, ‘’we found him rather cold. Everyone in the team tried, but he was quite cold.’’ Bergomi was more diplomatic stating that ‘’Dennis could have done more to adapt, to become more Italian.’’

His partnership with Sosa, which wasn’t working on the pitch, became more complicated when the Uruguayan described Bergkamp as ‘’strange and solitary’’ and that he ‘’does not laugh, does not speak and I will not ever pass him the ball’’ to the Italian media.

If the diminutive Uruguayan’s explosive pace and head-down style of dribbling was perfectly suited to Bagnoli’s game plan, Bergkamp’s sublime vision wasn’t. If Bergkamp needed collaborators in order to shine, Sosa was undoubtedly a soloist; their partnership was always destined to fail.

Bagnoli was sacked after a 2-1 loss at home to Lazio in February 1994 and was replaced by Giampiero Marini, who proceeded to only win twice in the remaining twelve league games as they narrowly avoided relegation by a single point. Yet their season ended in glory as they beat Casino Salzburg over two legs to win the UEFA Cup with Bergkamp ending as top goalscorer with eight goals."

BERGKAMP, INTER AND ITALIAN RELIGION

				BERGKAMP, INTER AND ITALIAN RELIGION When you think of Dennis Bergkamp numerous superlatives instantly spring to mind; perfectionist, genius, artist, visionary.
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That Inter side showed in flashes what might have been - and certainly the interference with and sacking of Bagnoli undermined things but it was a perfect example of the sum being somehow less than the parts. Sosa, a great player, just wasn't a good fit for Bergkamp. Partnerships are as important as their component talents. Yet the problems went far beyond the strikers (Inter managed more goals that season than champions Milan). The Inter defence shipped 45 goals in the league, more than relegated Piacenza but that got overlooked in the narrative because Zenga, Bergomi and Paganin were local heroes. Bergkamp became a convenient scapegoat for half a city's disappointments.

He lasted one more unfulfilling year before regime change at the top of the club saw him sold.  

Bergkamp's unhappy time at Inter reduced him from a world elite star, courted by Barcelona, Juventus, Milan and Inter when he decided to leave Ajax to an achievable signing for Arsenal, who were a Cup Winners Cup side, hardly one of the continental elite. It might have been really the only significant thing Bruce Rioch achieved in his short reign at the club and yet it set Arsenal on course for it's most successful era. Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger usually get the attention when thinking of those great Arsenal sides (and "the Invicibles" are in this tournament too) but as a lifelong Arsenal fan I would always have Bergkamp as far and away the most important, most talented, irreplaceable player in club history.  

The 1998 sides was Arsene Wenger's first full season at the club. Since the Bergkamp (and Platt) signings of 1995 he had added Bergkamp's Dutch teammate Marc Overmars, a muscular french midfielder from the Milan reserves called Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg- a young Swede winger and two of his Monaco stalwarts, Emanuel Petit and Giles Grimandi. Along with the George Graham-era defense and the aging maestro Ian Wright, the 1997/1998 Arsenal side would mark the club's centenary season with a league and cup double. Bergkamp won player of the year. Then that summer he went to the world cup and scored one of the greatest goals of all time. 

The Bergkamp derby pits a side that failed miserably in its domestic competition (undoubtedly the best league in the world at the time) and still conquered Europe against a side that blew away the English Premier League (including a great Manchester United side) but lost to PAOK Salonika in the first round of the Uefa Cup. It's hard to call a favourite. 

Arsenal 1997/1998                                    Inter 1993/1994

GK   David Seaman                            GK  Walter Zenga

FB    Lee Dixon                                  SW  Sergio Battistini

CB    Tony Adams                              CB  Giueseppe Bergomi

CB      Steve Bould                            CB    Antonio Paganin

FB     Nigel Winterburn                      FB    Alessandro Bianchi

MF    Marc Overmars                         FB    Angelo Orlando

MF    Patrick Vieira                           MF Nicola Berti

MF   Emanuel Petit                            MF   Wim Jonk

MF   Freddie Ljungberg                     MF  Antonio Manicone

CF   Ian Wright                                 CF   Ruben Sosa

CF   Dennis Bergkamp                     CF   Dennis Bergkamp

   

Match Day Preview: 2001/2002 Lyon vs 1999/2000 Valencia

L'Olympique Lyonnais are a wild card team in this tournament. They can hardly be said to have the European pedigree to rub shoulders with the great Milan or Barcelona sides. Their only trophy was their French League title (the first of seven consecutive titles), which they prized out of the hands of Lens on the final day of the season. But they lost half their Champions League matches that season (two of the three to Barcelona) before exiting the Uefa Cup to Slovan Liberec. That is the case against them being here. The case for them goes that they are representative of a "Lyon era" that began with this team and went on for almost a decade. In that time they were regular participants in late Champions League rounds, including a semi-final in 2010. I chose the 2001/2002 incarnation over the later versions mainly because it includes a number of  players who are worthy inclusions in the tournament but would otherwise not be there. It's a personal choice but I'm more excited by Sonny Anderson over Gomis, Juninho over Kallstrom, Marc Vivien Foe over Makoun, Edmilson over Cris and Coupet over Lloris. So here are Lyon, a team with no pedigree but if Valencia underestimate them, things could go horribly wrong for the 2000 Champions League finalists.

Valencia under Hector Cuper challenged the Real-Barcelona hegemony in Spain and for a brief time were the most dangerous team in the Champions League draw - reaching back to back finals in 2000 and 2001. They came heart breakingly close to winning the second final, losing on penalties but it was the first team from the prior season that the mind conjours up when thinking of Valencia in its pomp. Claudio Lopez and Angulo at the tip of a deadly counter attack. Kily Gonzalez and Gaizka Mendieta on the flanks, Farinos holding the middle and Gerard a roving creative menace. All of that made possible by a classic back four - Djukic and Pellegrino in the middle, Anglomar and Gerardo on the flanks all marshaled by Canizares in goal. The bench had depth too, Juan Sanchez, Joachim Bjorklund, Adrian Illie and David Albelda.

They sold Lopez to Lazio for big money after the final (also Farinos to Inter and Gerard to Barcelona). They brought in a raft of players with the cash some of whom worked (Baraja, Ayala, Aimar) and some of whom did not (Carew, Deschamps, Zahovic) and whilst they again made the final and perhaps should have won it, they were a distant fifth domestically. A year later, with Benitez replacing Cuper they won the domestic league but never reached the same heights in Europe.

Sonny Anderson vs Claudio Lopez could be a mouth watering display of running attack.

2001 /2002   Lyon                             1999/2000 Valencia

GK Coupet                                        Canizares
FB   Deflandre                                  Gerardo
CB  Edmilson                                    Djukic
CB  Muller                                        Pellegrino
FB   Brechet                                      Anglomar
MF   Carriere                                    Mendieta
MF   Foe                                           Farinos
MF  Juninho                                     Gerard
MF  Laigle                                        Kily Gonzalez
CF  Govou                                        Angulo
CF  Anderson                                   Claudio Lopez

Match day Two: 2012/2013 Bayern Munch 2 1999/2000 Lazio 0

2012/2013 Bayern Munch 2               1999/2000 Lazio  0
(Mandzukic 58', Muller 70')



From a position of complete control at halftime in the first leg, Lazio had conspired to hand Bayern a route back into the tie via two away goals in the final twenty minutes. It was a lifeline that the German giants grasped and never let go of and in this return leg in Bavaria they were less than gracitious hosts, hogging the ball and never giving the visitors time or space to play their game.

Indeed, but for the heroics of Marchegiani the result would have been much uglier for the Italians. Like Horatio at the bridge he defended, seemingly alone the Roman goal. He was called into action in the sixth minute when Mandzukic used his height to head a Ribery cross on goal and again on ten minutes when Muller flashed a shot in from the edge of the box. Bayern were totally dominant and pressing with the same aggression that had garnered them those two precious late goals at the Olympico.  

The Lazio defence creaked, bent but held and on twenty minutes the mustered their first chance in attack. Juan Sebastian Veron found space on the edge of the German box but fizzed his shot wide. It was to be the only chance for Manuel Neuer to get his knees dirty in the half.

Bayern pressure continued and the Lazio resistance was increasingly desperate. On thirty two minutes Mandzukic hit the post with his shot with Marchegiani routed to the spot. The rebound fell to Muller but the German's shot was too close to the keeper and Marchgiani was able to push the ball away. History repeated ten minutes later, Mandzukic again fired on goal, Marchegiani this time clawed the ball away but straight at Muller but the normally sure-shot striker blazed over the bar when it seemed harder not to score.

Halftime arrived with the score somehow still level and perhaps the Lazio fans could dare to hope that the Bavarian storm had blown itself out after an 8-1 shot differential. If so, they were to be swiftly disappointed. The second half was much like the first. The pressure built on the Lazio goal, the biancoceleste shirts fell deeper and deeper and could not keep hold of the ball long enough to give Salas and Mancini a chance to test the opposition defense. Nedved was a complete non-factor and even the combative Simone was over matched by the double act of Martinez and Schweinsteiger.

Two minutes before the hour mark, Bayern finally moved ahead for the first time in the tie. Ribery again found space and put a cross into the box and Mandzukic once more used his aerial dominance to climb above Nesta and head past Marchegiani.

Now having to chance to game, Lazio began to gamble and push forward. Three minutes after the Mandzukic goal, Salas hit the post with their best chance of the match. The game became stretched, Bayern found space to counter attack and on seventy minutes, with Lazio caught up field, Robben was brought down as he bore down into the box on the break. The penalty was coolly slotted away by Muller and Bayern were through. Lazio will look back on those away goals as the difference but the final shot differential in this tie was 14-2. The best team clearly won.