Inter fail again on European stage

Inter's reputation as being 'strong with the weak' and 'weak with the strong' was confirmed last week following their last-16 Champions League exit at the hands of European champions Man. United.

At home, Inter look well on their way to winning the Serie A title but the side is still a long way off from being a force to reckon with on the continent.

This season Inter were under a new coach, the shrewd Jose Mourinho, but, unfortunately for them, they still failed to make it to the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition for the third successive year.

Whoever thought that the self-acclaimed 'Special One' was going to lead Inter to their first European Cup success since 1965 was proven wrong as the Nerazzurri again earned the tag of underachievers in this competition.

Inter have last reached the final of this competition in 1971/72. Their record in the 2008/09 Champions League is poor to say the least - eight points from six outings in the group stages and a goalless draw and a 0-2 defeat to Manchester United in the first round of the KO phase.

Inter's below-par showings in Europe this season are highlighted by the fact that their opponents in Group B were not Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea or Real Madrid but modest teams Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Anorthosis. Yet, the Italian champions only just made it past the group stage.

When the last 16 draw was made, Inter were paired with United and their chances of progressing already looked slim, even though Mourinho had talked up his team's chances of making the quarter-finals.

The Portuguese coach remained positive even after his side were outplayed by the English champions at the San Siro in a match that finished 0-0 but which United should have won hands down.

A year ago, coach Roberto Mancini was made scapegoat of Inter's upsets in the Champions League. The domestic league title was not enough to satisfy the club owners' thirst for European glory. Mancini eventually lost his job even though he had more years on a long-term contract with the club.

A second chance

Now, will Mourinho get the same treatment? Will he get a second chance?

So far, Inter rarely functioned as a unit and depend on the individual flair and class of the likes of goalkeeper Julio Cesar, Maicon, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mourinho's chief objective is to get the result the team needs and that is it.

If that tactic works in Italy, the same cannot be said in the Champions League.

Inter have by far been the best team in the Italian top flight since 2006/07.

Indeed, the side did not need anyone 'special' to lead them to domestic glory. The real challenge for Inter was to leave their mark in the Champions League, something they failed again to achieve.

Club supremo Massimo Moratti will have to go back to the drawing board again.

Only time will tell if he got it right when sacking Mancini to hire Mourinho last year.

Serie A statistics

0 wins were registered by the two coaches who made their debut last weekend. Luigi De Canio saw troubled Lecce going down to a heavy 2-5 defeat against Palermo to remain second-from-bottom. For Palermo, this was their second successive win following a comfortable 2-0 away success over Fiorentina. Ex-Italy coach Roberto Donadoni steered Napoli to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at bottom side Reggina. Napoli's most recent win in the Italian league dates back to January 11 (vs Catania 1-0). Since then, all they have managed were three draws.

2nd consecutive defeat for struggling Torino following the 0-2 upset to Atalanta in Bergamo. Walter Novellino's side have now gone three successive games without a win and without scoring a goal. Prior to Sunday, Atalanta were coming from three straight defeats (vs Sampdoria 0-1, Chievo 0-2 and Milan 0-3). Sunday's win was Atalanta's first at Torino in the top flight since March 31, 1996 (1-0). Chievo surprised the pundits and conquered Lazio's Olympic Stadium with a resounding 3-0 success last weekend. It was Chievo's first victory in Rome since a narrow 1-0 success on October 17, 2004. Lazio have not beaten Chievo at home since October 2003 (1-0).

3 players - Marco Motta (Roma), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari) and Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio) - received marching orders. Sampdoria coach Walter Mazzarri and Jose Mourinho, of Inter, were also ordered off their benches. Three penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. Julio Baptista ably converted a 70th-minute penalty to help 10-man Roma to a 2-2 draw away at Sampdoria. Andrea Pirlo's seventh-minute penalty put Milan on their way against Siena and Palermo's Edinson Cavani scored his first of the day from the spot after only 11 minutes.

4 years went by since Sampdoria's last home win over Roma. On Sunday, Samp could not go beyond a 2-2 draw that kept Roma in the hunt for a Champions League berth. Milan consolidated their third place after beating Siena 5-1 in Tuscany to stay in the reckoning for automatic qualification to the Champions League. In six home league meetings with Milan, Siena have only managed a win and a draw.

7th home win on the trot for Inter as on Sunday, Jose Mourinho's team bounced back from their early exit from the Champions League with a hard-earned 2-0 win over Fiorentina. This was the Viola's third successive game without a win. Juventus maintained their challenge with a 4-1 home win over Bologna. Sinisa Mihajlovic's Bologna have lost three of their last four games.

34 goals were scored on the 28th day: 18 coming from the hosts and the remaining 16 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with 14 goals and there were 16 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 688. Del Piero (Juventus), Ibrahimovic (Inter), Floccari (Atalanta), Pellissier (Chievo), Tiribocchi (Lecce), Pazzini (Sampdoria), Inzaghi and Pato (both Milan), Baptista (Roma) and Cavani (Palermo) each scored a brace. Olivera (Genoa), Bogdani (Chievo) and Quagliarella (Udinese) came on as substitutes and scored. Marco Di Vaio is still the leading marksman with 19 goals. Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now second with 17 goals.