MILAN - (Football Data) Today the draw was made for the Viareggio tournament – the 2012 edition of the Carnival Cup and Inter, as holders, will be playing. The Nerazzurri will be competing for the 49th time in their history. Inter have played 211 matches, winning 114; they have drawn 53 and lost 44, with a goal difference of 324 for and 166 against. Their highest scoring match was 9-0 against Bern from Switzerland on 19 February 1952, during the knock-out stage, while their worst defeat was 0-5, on 9 February 1988, against Parma in the qualifiers.
Inter have won the tournament 6 times: in 1962 they beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the final (with Petroni scoring a brace and Nuti pulling one back for Fiorentina); in 1971 they beat AC Milan with the same score of 2-1 (goals coming from Dioni and Giavardi for the Nerazzurri, and Scarrone scored a penalty for the Rossoneri); in 1986 they beat Sampdoria 1-0 in the final (thanks to a goal from Zanuttig); then in 2002 they won 2-1 against Torino (a Quadri penalty and a goal from Perfetti decided the match in Inter's favour, as Giordano grabbed a consolation goal for Torino); in 2008, they beat Empoli at the second attempt: the score was 1-1 after extra time in the first match (Gerbo scored for Inter and Hemmy equalising for Empoli), it was 2-2 at the end of added time in the replay (a brace for Inter from Balotelli – one of which was a penalty – with goals coming for the Tuscans from Arvia's penalty and Caturano) – the Nerazzurri won 5-4 on spot-kicks, 7-6 on aggregate: Forino converted the winner for Inter and Belec saved from Hemmy for Empoli; then came the 2011 victory, a 2-0 win over Fiorentina with two goals from Dell'Agnello (one from the spot).
On two occasions the Nerazzurri made it to the final, but they had to make do with second place (in 1972, 0-2 against Dukla Prague and in 1983, when they lost 0-2 to Roma); Inter have come third 6 times (1952, 1961, 1978, 1989, 1993 and 2009), and fourth 4 times (1963, 1976, 2000 and 2005).
In 2012 Stramaccioni's team will face Siena, Reggina and the Turks from Galatasaray in the knockout stage. (Football Data)
