The Eternal shame of Italian game
You might have caught a whiff of it at Anfield at the weekend, but nothing like the stench at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday when Lazio met Inter.
\ It was an occasion when that quaint phrase “entertaining the visitors” took on new meaning.
With Lazio more or less safe from relegation, there was nothing at stake, except the opportunity for some schadenfreude at the expense of Roma.
Inter needed to win to go back to the top, and Lazio seemed more than happy to oblige.
All last week, there were statements from Lazio that this would be a “proper match”. And to be fair to the players, they did at least pretend to make an effort in the first half. Not that there was ever any suggestion that they might try and score a goal, but their young Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera was performing heroics.
Muslera didn’t have the easiest of starts at Lazio. He let in five against Milan back in October 2007 and was out of the side for the next 14 months.
Since then, he’s earned the nickname castorino (little beaver) from the fans, a tribute to his energy and hard work, and possibly to his efforts to dam up a leaky defence. But his efforts on Sunday were less and less appreciated as the minutes ticked by.
You can understand Lazio fans would not be enthusiastic about Roma winning the scudetto. Hatred doesn’t describe it. Rome has one of the nastiest rivalries in the world, exceeded only by Athens, Belgrade, Buenos Aires and possibly Glasgow.
Even so it was a bit of a shock to hear the home fans booing their team for stopping the opposition from scoring throughout the game.
The Laziali had come with banners and flares to cheer an Inter victory and they were not prepared to be denied. When Sneijder missed with the goal at his mercy the stadium groaned in pain and when Samuel finally got his head to the ball to put Inter a goal up before half time, there was a roar that might have been heard on the other side of the Tiber.
The second half was a farce, the players no longer even pretending, and their fans rejoicing in the 2-0 win that leaves Inter odds on to become champions for the fifth year running.
A sad moment in a title race that has been genuinely exciting for the first time in years, and made more sad by claims about death threats last night from Lazio president Claudio Lotito.
“I would be ashamed to win a match like this,” declared Roma president Rosella Sensi.
“It’s a very serious precedent,” said Roma director Gian Paolo Montali. “This sport can’t remain as it is, it has to change. It’s something that can only be done officially. I’m really concerned about the mood there is in this city. I’m thinking of the next derby: we need to be very careful.”
For Inter and Jose Mourinho the treble is now a real prospect, although the Coppa Italia final tomorrow could be an explosive game, with Roma playing in their own stadium.
To win the Champions League and Serie A in the same season would be an historic achievement but the European and domestic double is also on for Mourinho’s former boss and mentor Louis van Gaal at Bayern.
Inter could still slip up against Chievo or in their final game at Siena, even if that’s unlikely. But Bayern are in the happy position of leading by three points with one match left, with a goal difference of 17 over Schalke, and have the final of the German Cup, the DFB Pokal, to look forward to, against Werder Bremen.
Both Mourinho and van Gaal have won a title and the Champions League in the same season – with Porto and Ajax. But no side has ever done the treble in Germany, and for van Gaal to achieve that in his first season at Bayern would really make him a special one.
