MILAN – Youri Djorkaeff was once described as playing "in an undefined role on the pitch and possessing incredibly good feet."
Yet there's one moment in particular from the Frenchman that remains imprinted in the memories of Inter fans everywhere: his sideways scissor-kick against Roma on 5 January 1997, the image of which was subsequently printed on the season ticket for the following season.
Djorkaeff has sat down for a trip down memory lane with Alessandro Villa, going out live on Inter Channel this evening at 21:00 CET.
Here's an extract of the full interview with the former French star.
His first memory of Inter was the Milan Derby, watching on from the stands: "Jurgen Klinsmann, who played with me at AS Monaco and actually joined from Inter, took me to watch the derby. Fantastic.
"San Siro is a proper football stadium. All the images we saw of Italy from abroad were of stadiums with a running track. San Siro was different: the cathedral of football."
Youri joined the Nerazzurri after a year at Paris Saint-Germain: "My dad was the first-ever captain of the club. I've always felt like a citizen of the world, but I make sure I have strong roots in whichever city I find myself in.
"When I arrive somewhere, I learn its history, take on the good things, respect the traditions and listen before opening my mouth."
Djorkaeff joined Inter during the 1996/97 season and on 5 January against Roma, he scored a goal that went down in the annals of not only Inter's history but Serie A's in general: "It's something for Inter fans everywhere because it's a goal that's still played all over the world and you can see San Siro, the Inter shirt, Curva Nord and my team-mates.
"There was a photo of that goal on the season ticket for the following season. I don't need my passport when I come to Italy, I just pull that season ticket out."
Over a three-year spell at Inter, the Frenchman wrote his page in the history of the Derby della Madonnina: "The eyes of the world were on Milan, I always liked the derby. I liked catching the bus from Appiano Gentile to the stadium, seeing all the traffic and the people."
An Inter side including Gigi Simoni and Youri Djorkaeff welcomed the best player in the world, Ronaldo, in the summer of 1997: "Before Inter bought him, we spoke about it with Massimo Moratti. He came to Appiano Gentile and told me there was a possibility he could buy Ronaldo but he wanted my opinion. I said to him: 'Buy the lad immediately. He will take us to a new level, we need this calibre of player'."
In the midst of a week featuring a double-header against Juventus – in the league in Turin on Sunday 28 February and at San Siro for the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg on 2 March – you can't help but remember the home game against the Bianconeri on 4 January 1998. The Nerazzurri No.6 popped up with the winner at the beginning of the second half on that occasion.
"For once in my life I ran faster than Ronaldo! When he had the ball at his feet, you couldn't keep up with him. I watched him run and managed to make it to the far post. It wasn't easy to beat that Juventus side, they were great but we overcame them on the pitch."
The reverse fixture that season was played on 26 April: "What can we say about that game? There was something not quite right about Italian football at the time.
"We lost the Scudetto in 1998 but then Inter won so much because things changed."
Djorkaeff said goodbye to Inter in summer 1999: "Marcello Lippi had come to Inter and I immediately realised that things weren't going to be good. I preferred to step aside to not create any problems and so I left.
"I had big offers from numerous Italian clubs, but for me there could only ever be one team in Italy. It was Inter or nothing else."
Djorkaeff's career highlights also include winning the World Cup and the Euros in 1998 and 2000, when France became the first national team in history to hold the titles of World Champions and European Champions at the same time.
That great France team was made up of Lillian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane, Youri Djorkaeff and Bixente Lizarazu, who hailed from Guadalupe, Ghana, Algeria, Armenia and the Basque Country respectively.
"France is the country of hospitality. The beauty of sport is it shows politicians that things can function when people work well together. We spoke different languages, ate different food, came from different cultures, but on the pitch we played for one shirt. One shirt bound us all, the France shirt."
The words of a Nerazzurri legend like Youri Djorkaeff will undoubtedly be useful for new generations of Inter players: "Pulling on the Inter shirt isn't easy, you need to understand the history. You have to earn it and wear the shirt with humility. If you don't have that, you might do alright for a game or two – if you're lucky three – but not for the whole season."
