Matias - The Comeback

Seven years in purgatory. The two-legged tie against Schalke 04 in the 2011 Champions League quarter-finals was memorable. The match was remembered for Stankovic’s goal from the halfway line, but also for the countless counter-attacking opportunities handed to the Germans. It marked the final chapter for an extraordinary team that had lifted the trophy into the Madrid sky.

From there, a return to Europe’s elite seemed a formality, then an important objective, and eventually almost a pipe dream.

The seven-year drought, an almost biblical number, came to an end on a May night at the Olimpico, when a quirk of the fixture list had turned the final matchday, Lazio vs. Inter, into something resembling a Champions League play-off. Inter had only one possible outcome: victory. And it came courtesy of a header from the least expected man: Matías Vecino, a midfielder by trade who had a penchant for scoring important goals. Riccardo Trevisani summed it up perfectly in commentary: Vecino gets it. 3-2, and Inter are back in the Champions League.

The return to the Champions League in September was billed as a gala occasion. The Club’s season-ticket campaign quoted Dante: back to see the stars. San Siro was buzzing; it felt like one of those nights when something magical was about to happen. As the competition’s anthem finished at the start of the match, a roar went up that seemed to shake the very foundations of the stadium.

But then Tottenham took the lead, courtesy of a cruel deflection from Christian Eriksen’s shot — a player we would see around these parts again. Alongside the Dane, Tottenham had stars such as Harry Kane, Son and Lucas Moura. That edition would see them go all the way to the final. But San Siro refused to surrender. The equaliser arrived almost by chance. Five minutes from time, Mauro Icardi took a knock and stopped just outside the edge of the penalty arc, despite practically living inside the box. The ball dropped in front of him; he did not hesitate and struck it sweetly on the volley. 1-1.

It was not over. In stoppage time, Inter won a corner. Miranda rose to meet it with his head. The ball seemed magnetically drawn towards a player waiting in the six-yard box, who calmly turned it into the net. It was a roar that would live long in the memory. Once again, Trevisani had a moment of inspiration as he called the goal. Just a few words that, even today, immediately transport anyone who hears them back to that exact moment: Vecino’s got it again.

The statement was clear: Inter were not the strongest team in the Champions League, they would fail to reach the last 16 in that edition but from then on, every opponent would have to reckon with them. And since 2018, when it all began, that has indeed remained the case.