MILAN – The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship gets underway at 18:00 today as Poland take on Greece in the National Stadium Warsaw. The tournament both in the past and today is interwoven with the history of Inter through the various personalities who have been connected with them throughout the years.
Players and coaches, football legends travelling through Europe and the Nerazzurri colours have been brought back to life thanks to the precious details which have been supplied by Football Data.
France: Blanc a coach who has worn the blue and black shirt
This will be France coach Laurent Blanc's debut in the group stages of the European Championship, although he has played in the tournament on three occasions in a French shirt. He made 13 appearances, which is equivalent to 1,270 minutes on the pitch, scoring twice during Sweden '92, England 96 and Belgium-Netherlands 2000. Blanc was on the winning side in the tournament when it was co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, as France beat Italy 2-1 in the final, scoring a golden goal. Blanc has never coached for the World Cup either, but played five times, clocking up 489 minutes of play and scoring one goal: this was actually the first golden goal in the history of the competition, on 28 June 1998 as France beat Paraquay 1-0 in Lens in the round of 16, Blanc's goal coming after 113 minutes of play. Between July 1999 and August 2001, when France were crowned Champions of Europe, Blanc returned to Italy to play for Inter, after playing for Napoli in 1991/92. He made 86 appearances in competitive matches for the Nerazzurri scoring 6 goals.
England: Hodgson has a blue and black past too
This will be Roy Hodgson's first experience on the bench in a European Championship; he didn't take part in the competition as a player either. Hodgson can boast experience in the USA 1994 World Cup when he coached Switzerland, reaching the last 16 where they were knocked out by Spain (0-3). In the four matches Hodgson coached there he totalled 1 win, 1 draw and 2 defeats. Among others, Hodgson coached Inter from October 1995 to May 1997 and from May to June 1999, with a total of 41 wins, 27 draws and 22 defeats in 90 competitive matches.
Eire: Trap and memories of the record-breaking Scudetto
Giovanni Trapattoni is the third coach at Euro 2012 with a past at Inter. Trap coached Inter from 1986/87 to 1990/91, when he won the record-breaking Scudetto in 1988/89, the Italian Super Cup in 1989 and the UEFA Cup in 1990/91. Trap's coaching performance at Inter is 125 wins, 66 draws and 45 defeats in 236 competitive matches.
Croatia: former Nerazzurri Simic is the only player to have taken part in the last three editions of the final group stage
Croatia have fielded a total of 49 players in the group stages of the European Championship they have played in. There are four everpresent players, with six appearances each: Niko Kovac, Robert Kovac, Ivica Olic and Josip Simunic. Dario Simic (an old friend of Italian football) played for Inter from January 1999 to June 2002, making 90 competitive appearances and scoring 4 times. He went on to play for AC Milan from 2002/03 to 2007/08, totalling 105 appearances and 1 goal in competitive matches, and won the Coppa Italia and the Champions League in 2002/03, the European Super Cup in 2003, the Scudetto in 2003/04, the Italian Super Cup in 2004 and the Champions League again in 2006/07. He is the only Croatia player who can boast at least one appearance in all three previous editions: 1 in England '96, 3 in Portugal 2004 and 1 in Austria-Switzerland 2008.
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