Antonio – The Brains of the Operation

They called him a centre-half in football’s earliest days.

A regista in the 1980s and ’90s. A playmaker, borrowing the term from basketball. A quarterback, from American football. Whatever we call him, we know exactly who we mean: the player who makes a team tick. The one who sits in front of the defence, receives the ball in every move and dictates the tempo. Çalhanoğlu, of course. Brozović. Thiago Motta. Verón. Matteoli. Manicone? Who?? That’s right: Antonio Manicone.

Summer 1992. Inter’s transfer business: Gigi De Agostini, Totò Schillaci, Rubén Sosa, Darko Pančev, Matthias Sammer, Igor Shalimov. Not a bad window at all. The problem was that AC Milan seemed to be on another planet. They had finished 19 points ahead the previous season, and their new signings included Boban, Savićević and the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, Jean-Pierre Papin. Osvaldo Bagnoli was in charge at Inter. A native of Milano, he was pragmatic and almost too frank in press conferences and interviews. There was a problem with Sammer. The German scored goals, certainly, but he hadn’t settled in and didn’t make the team tick. He looked more like a midfielder who burst into the box than the brains of the operation. In November, he asked to return to Germany and got his wish, joining Borussia Dortmund.

Then came a stroke of inspiration: Udinese had a playmaker who was doing exceptionally well. He was 26 and, until the previous season, had been playing in Serie B with Palermo, Foggia and Udinese. Yet Serie A seemed to suit him even better. His quality shone through, and his teammates were even better at controlling and chasing down his brilliant long passes. With Manicone pulling the strings, Inter turned a corner: 20 games, eleven wins, eight draws and just one defeat, in the penultimate game of the season. Gullit’s equaliser in the derby had already shattered the dream of catching AC Milan, but Inter still finished second after an excellent campaign.

The following season was a real struggle in the league but brought European glory as Inter lifted the UEFA Cup. The toughest test came against Borussia Dortmund at San Siro. The Nerazzurri had won the first leg 3-1 in Germany but could not get going in the return fixture. Zorc, the German side’s captain, put Dortmund 1-0 up. Then it was 2-0 through Lars Ricken, just 17 years old. We would hear that name again. Then Dortmund hit the bar. Had it gone in, Inter would have been out. The shot came, as fate would have it, from Matthias Sammer. The Nerazzurri broke up the other end. Bergkamp threaded a brilliant through ball forward, and an Inter player raced in behind to beat the onrushing goalkeeper with a right-footed finish. It was Antonio Manicone, who turns 60 today. Brains, just when you need them.