MILAN – We left off on the pitch of the Stadio Olimpico in Roma: it was 29 May
and Inter had just won their seventh Coppa Italia with a 3-1 victory in the
final against Palermo. Now we start again from here. The Nerazzurri are back in
the hunt for the Coppa Italia, and tonight they face Genoa in the Stadio
Giuseppe Meazza in a round of 16 match. Just like last season, when the same
match had opened the Nerazzurri's path in the best possible way with a 3-2
victory (with two goals from Eto'o and one from Mariga).
It's a one-off elimination match in what will be the 99th meeting
between Inter and the Rossoblù, the 51st played in Milan for a record of 37
wins for the Nerazzurri, 4 for Genoa and 14 draws. And the number of goals
scored by each team is astounding: 99 in total coming from the team from
Liguria from the beginning of the single-group era, but Inter's goals are
nearly double that figure with 182.
Tomorrow evening's game at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza will also be the 15th
competitive match between Ranieri and Genoa, and so far the current Inter coach
boasts a record – in his favour – of 10 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. In the 14
previous meetings the teams led by Ranieri have always found the net, for a
total of 30 goals scored. On the other side, there have been 9 previous
competitive matches between Pasquale Marino and Inter, but so far the Rossoblù
coach is winless (two draws and seven defeats) and without a clean sheet, for a
total of 11 goals conceded in the previous 5 played so far at the San Siro.
As regards the two cities, Milan and Genoa, in the Coppa Italia, the last KO
suffered by Inter goes back to 4 March 2009 when they were defeated 0-3 at the
Marassi by Sampdoria. In the following 11 games played in the competition the
Nerazzurri's record is 9 wins and 2 draws. But you have to go back even
further, to 2002, to find the last home defeat when Bari won 2-1 in the second
leg of the round of 16. From that point to the present the Nerazzurri's record
in the following 26 matches in the competition is 20 victories and 6 draws.
