Luc - The Brief Encounter

King for a Night, originally titled The King of Comedy, is a Martin Scorsese film, and the perfect title to describe the spell of Inter players who left their mark just once, albeit an important one. Today’s protagonist is one of them.

The 2011-12 season had begun in an unusual manner. Following Leonardo’s sudden departure, Gian Piero Gasperini took charge at Inter after a few days of uncertainty. His spell was to be extremely brief, with defeat at Novara bringing it to an end. It had been a 3-1 loss against the newly promoted Piedmont side. Gasp fielded a highly unusual front three: Forlan, Milito and Castaignos from right to left.

But who was the Dutchman thrown in from the very first minute? At 19, Castaignos had scored 15 goals in the Eredivisie for Feyenoord the previous season. One journalist wrote that he was reminiscent of Thierry Henry.

Inter had already signed him midway through that season, for a relatively modest fee for a player who appeared destined for great things.

He was certainly no winger: he was a penalty-box striker. Ranieri then replaced Gasperini, taking a more pragmatic approach and playing a traditional 4-4-2 with two forwards. The problem was that he had Milito, Forlan, Pazzini and Zarate. Castaignos was relegated to the bench, before being brought back into the side for 45 unproductive minutes against Juventus. Then came Siena, the stage for his night as king.

Inter could not break the deadlock, and at half-time Castaignos came on for Zarate. During one of the final attacks, it was finally broken. Thiago Motta played a through ball, Castaignos controlled it with his left foot and slotted it into the corner with his right. Siena 0-1 Inter in the 89th minute: Luc Castaignos.

It was a sunset, but many mistook it for a sunrise.

Castaignos did not become a regular starter. In fact, as sometimes happens, he almost completely disappeared from the match reports. He would not play again for three months, returning for 20 minutes against Bologna in February, and that appearance would prove fatal to his Inter adventure. He was punished with a three-match suspension for spitting in the direction of an opponent. At the end of the season, he returned to the Eredivisie, where he drifted for several years without ever becoming the player he had been at Feyenoord. He retired last year and now works as a pundit on Feyenoord TV. Today he turns 34. We can be sure that, every now and then, before he falls asleep, he thinks back to that afternoon in Siena, when for a moment, he was the master of the world.