Inter still team to beat but rivals hope to upset odds

Inter start the new season as firm favourites to claim an unprecedented sixth successive title in spite of the notable departures of coach Josè Mourinho, who is now in charge of Real Madrid, and ‘enfant terrible’ Mario Balotelli who has joined Manchester City.

Rafa Benitez, the former Liverpool manager, has inherited a strong squad, one brimming with confidence after last season’s historic treble.

Even though Inter have all the ingredients to maintain their successful streak, their task will be anything but straightforward for two main reasons.

It is widely accepted that keeping a team on top is more difficult than leading it to success for the first time. To this end, Benitez has to make sure his players do not become complacent after their remarkable achievement last season.

Inter are still the team to beat in Italy, but this does not necessarily make domestic success a foregone conclusion. Inter can extend their golden era, provided they are still hungry to win more silverware.

Last Saturday, they began the new campaign exactly as they had finished the previous one by winning the Italian Super Cup. The Nerazzurri beat Roma 3-1 at the San Siro Stadium to win their fifth Super Cup title.

Last season, Mourinho’s Inter went down to Lazio in the curtain-raiser. Eventually, this defeat turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Inter went on to win not only the Serie A and Coppa Italia but also their first European Cup in 45 years.

The other three title hopefuls, Juventus, Milan and Roma, have strengthened their squads to varying degrees, albeit Juve have been by far the busiest of the trio in the transfer market.

After last season’s disappointing seventh-place finish, Juventus have done some much-needed soul-searching. It would not have been enough for Juve to just change coach and sign new players.

The Old Lady did well to overhaul their administration, starting at the top by appointing a new president, Andrea Agnelli. They have also hired a new director general in Beppe Marotta.

Luigi Del Neri, who worked alongside Marotta at Sampdoria last season, has taken charge of Juventus despite the fact that their first choice to replace interim manager Alberto Zaccheroni was none other than Benitez.

Juventus have tried to bolster all departments with the signing of Alberto Aquilani (on loan from Liverpool), Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Jorge Martinez (Catania), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Marco Storari (Sampdoria), Davide Lanzafame (Parma) and Marco Motta (Roma).

Whether the new signings are good enough to help Juventus make a quantum leap and bridge the gap with Inter remains to be seen.

Del Neri has done well in recent years with Atalanta and last season with Sampdoria whom he led to a top-four finish at the expense of more-quoted sides.

However, the appointment of Del Neri may prove a risky one for Juventus as he lacks experience in top-club management. Earlier in his coaching career, Del Neri had disappointing spells with then European champions Porto and Roma in season 2004/05.

Ranieri impact

Roma are coming from an excellent season, albeit they finished empty-handed. The team from the capital started their 2009/10 campaign with back-to-back defeats to Genoa and Juventus which led to coach Luciano Spalletti’s resignation.

Claudio Ranieri, Spalletti’s successor, took Roma to new heights as the Giallorossi finished runners-up in the Serie A and the Coppa Italia after pushing Inter to the limit.

Few additions of note, namely Adriano (Flamengo) and Fabio Simplicio (Palermo), mean that Roma will have to repeat last season’s consistency and enjoy luck with injuries and suspensions if they are to keep the pace in the title race.

Once again, Roma’s fortunes will depend on the form of Francesco Totti, Mirko Vucinic and Daniele De Rossi.

New signings Mario Yepes (Chievo), Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Marco Amelia (both Genoa), Marco Fossati (Inter), Cristian Daminuta (Modena) and Kevin Prince-Boateng (Portsmouth via Genoa) have failed to convince the critics that Milan should now be regarded as genuine title contenders. Club owner, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, thinks otherwise.

Who knows, maybe Milan will unveil a top-class signing (possibly Zlatan Ibrahimovic) before next Tuesday’s transfer deadline.