<p><strong>MILAN – </strong>On 19 September 1990, the following happened in a match involving Inter:</p> <ul> <li>A goal that would have made it 0-2 (it should have counted) was disallowed for offside</li> <li>The scorer of the opening goal had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury</li> <li>The opposition turned the match around to take the lead</li> <li>15 minutes from the end, a recent World Cup winner, who had scored the decisive goal in the final of that competition, was unable to level things up as he missed from the penalty spot</li> <li>The goalkeeper left the pitch with a bandage around his hand</li> </ul> <p>This was a match which made history. It was the first game in a competition that would end in the Nerazzurri playing in Rome and lifting their first ever UEFA Cup. Sitting on the bench that day was Giovanni Trapattoni. Inter took the lead through <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0396">Matthaus</a>, who was then forced to leave the pitch due to a knee injury after he had gone in for a challenge. It was <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0336">Klinsmann </a>who had a goal disallowed. <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0094">Brehme</a> was the player who missed the penalty. The match finished 2-1 to the hosts. <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0687">Zenga </a>left the pitch in pain but was sure that Inter could turn things around at home.</p> <p>Our opponents that evening were Rapid Vienna. They were a physical side and had begun preparing six weeks prior to Trapattoni’s Nerazzurri team. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRJh1U3C48">Without the running ability and skill of their number ten</a>, Inter were pegged back in their own half by the Austrian side, eventually leading to a defeat.</p> <p>In the return leg, however, it was a different story.</p> <p>The Germans at the Nerazzurri seemed cursed in the first leg, but Inter’s luck would turn in the next time out as the team showed Italian spirit, a lot of Italian spirit in fact, with <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0061">Nicola Berti</a> providing the impetus for the Nerazzurri to produce the first of a series of historical comebacks.</p> <p>“I left my mark in Austria more than once. Firstly, I scored in Prater with the National Team, then in the first leg of the 1993/94 UEFA Cup final against Austria Salzburg. I was promised Mozartkugel (Mozart balls) as a gift but never received anything,” said Berti, laughing. “In our UEFA Cup run back then, I was the man who excelled in the return legs we played, the man who brought about comebacks, with this starting at the Bentegodi against Rapid Vienna.</p> <p>“We knew that we couldn’t lose against them. In the first leg, they used their physicality to come out on top. In the second leg, we needed to beat them through our technical ability and pride. In that match, I actually scored two unusual goals – they were powerful strikes from distance, not really what I was known for.</p> <p>“Who provided the assists? <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0598">Serena </a>set me up twice, but I returned the favour several times.”</p> <p>Nevertheless, Rapid would go on to score, leading to extra time. The third and decisive goal was scored by Klinsmann, who slotted home following <a href="https://www.inter.it/en/archivio_giocatore/G0066">Bianchi</a>’s assist. Inter thus progressed to the next round.</p> <p>On Thursday, the Nerazzurri will return to Vienna to play Rapid almost 30 years after an evening that will live long in the memories of both <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYP71J0_oUk">Berti </a>and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdBPk6vOMcU&t=3s">Matthaus</a>.</p>
Versión Española 日本語版 Versi Bahasa Indonesia 中文版 Versione Italiana
