Ivan Ramiro Cordoba has long cemented his status as an all-time Inter great. He enjoyed a hugely successful career as a player, winning a host of honours during his spell with the Nerazzurri, but has no immediate plans to move into coaching.

On the pitch, Cordoba enjoyed great success at Inter, winning a host of honours after signing from Argentine club San Lorenzo in January 2000 for a reported fee of €16 million.

Those early years at Inter were not easy for Cordoba as Inter's efforts to end their wait for a top honour proved futile before a Coppa Italia success in season 2004-05 opened the floodgates.

“The first few years were quite difficult because we worked very hard, with a lot of commitment, to achieve results and reap the benefits of our efforts but we didn’t succeed in giving this happiness to our fans and the club,” Cordoba said in an extensive interview with The Sunday Times of Malta.

“It was also tough for us because, when you come to the end of a championship and you finish empty-handed, at a club like Inter this is very difficult.

“I used to talk a lot with (Javier) Zanetti and we comforted one another, saying that this must change, sooner or later it has to change, and that the work we’re doing will bear fruit.

“Then a Coppa Italia success arrived and it lifted the weight of not having won a major title. From that moment on, we embarked on a streak of victories that helped us practically forget that bad period.”

“I cherish every honour, every trophy I’ve won with Inter,” Cordoba reminisced.

“Scoring the winning goal for Colombia in the final of the Copa America against Mexico, on home soil, was also a highlight.

“It’s really difficult to think of one moment in particular because all were beautiful. I mean you’ve just won something and almost suddenly, it triggers this thought in your head about wanting to win again, again and again. Having had to wait so long to capture a major honour, when you start winning, you want more of it. You want to continue winning, it becomes a habit... this is a very nice thing.”

Cordoba had been made aware that Real Madrid had tabled a lucrative offer for him but there was no way he was backtracking on his decision to join Inter.

“No, it was not difficult, honestly, because I only wanted to join Inter,” Cordoba replied when asked whether he had been tempted by Real’s late approach.

“The Real Madrid story was true because the coach of San Lorenzo at the time was Oscar Ruggeri. He is a person who guided me in the last six months of my stint with San Lorenzo, showing a lot of faith in me to the point that I was being tracked by Inter, Real Madrid and other clubs.

“He (Ruggeri) was a person who had a very close relationship with Real Madrid.

“Having played for Real, Ruggeri advised them to sign me but things happened like this... up to three hours before I’m due to sign for Inter, the San Lorenzo president arrives and tells me: ‘Look Ivan, Real Madrid are willing to pay more for your transfer and they will surely offer you a better contract’.

“I replied: ‘No. Listen president, with all due respect, I know that for you it’s very important but I have already decided, I want to go to Inter.’

“In my head, for my future, there was only Inter and I decided to stick to that.”

In his long spell at the San Siro, Cordoba has worked with a host of great managers, including Jose Mourinho, the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’, but he also paid tribute to those who came before and after the Portuguese, especially Argentine Hector Cuper.

“Arriving at a very particular moment in the history of Italian football and the history of Inter, the coaches who left a legacy were, first and foremost, (Hector) Cuper,” Cordoba, 38, claimed.

“When he took over, he tried to put the team and the club on the same lines and embrace that ethos. And like that we were very close to winning but he (Cuper) nonetheless established the base for what was to follow.

“After that (Roberto) Mancini found a fertile ground where he could continue to do his work more easily. Starting to win with Mancini removed that psychological block.

“It gave us a lot of confidence and also enhanced belief in our work. It also gave us another mentality.

“Then, (Jose) Mourinho arrived and he gave us that leap in quality to achieve something that the people had been asking from us after several scudetti... the fans dreamed of the Champions League, even we dreamed of the Champions League.

“We were seeing it as a difficult task because, you know, it is very complicated but the work carried out by Cuper, Mancini and then Mourinho, finally paid off and we managed to triumph in Europe.

“Another coach who was there for a short time but nevertheless created a piece of club history was Leonardo.

“He took charge of a group (of players) who, at that moment, was starting to harbour doubts.

“He clarified the ideas, restored faith in the squad and the players and we managed to win the Coppa Italia besides playing a prominent role in the championship.

“Naturally, from all the coaches, you have to learn something but with these four, the way they handled the squad was fundamental because when you have many champions, you only have to put them at ease and ensure that they are in the right condition to show the qualities they have on the field and also off it to keep the group together.”

Cordoba believes that the present Inter squad has sufficient quality to hold its own in the Serie A but stressed that the players need to rediscover serenity to show their best.

Although his exit from Inter didn’t go down well with many fans, Cordoba said he will be eternally grateful to the club for giving him the chance to play for them and to remain in football soon after his retirement.

“I will always be thankful to Inter because they enabled me to make this switch in the least traumatic manner,” Cordoba said of his transition from player to club official.

Cordoba will be in Malta next weekend as he has teamed up with the Inter Club Pupi Zanetti Malta to hold a mini training camp for children betwen December 6 and 8.

All proceeds from the training camp and the Gala Dinner, scheduled for today week at the Radisson Golden Sands, will go to Cordoba’s, Fundación ‘Colombia Te Quiere Ver’ that assists the needy, especially children, in his homeland.

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