Magical Conte

It is unbelievable. Antonio Conte who was responsible for the historic rise of Juventus, also became the person to end the club’s glorious run (“Inter crowned Italian League champions after Atalanta held,” May 2, Gulf Today).

On Sunday, Inter Milan claimed the Serie A title for the first time in 11 years to end Juventus’ nine-year reign in Italy. That must be have been painful for Juventus because it was Conte who had started Juventus’s record run, winning the first three titles in a winning streak that stretched from 2012 to 2020.

Credit once again to Conte. The 51-year-old took charge at Inter only in 2019, and lifted the trophy in just his second term. More than the club, the win speaks volumes of Conte’s caliber. And he sums it up well when he says: “We’re breaking up a dynasty. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that we’d make up this much ground on the team that dominated Serie A for nine years in the space of two seasons.”

Inter was at its best earlier, during the Mourinho years. In 2010 the Lombardy side won the historic Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia treble. Their last trophy was the Coppa Italia in 2011 and they missed out on the Champions League for six seasons before Luciano Spalletti returned them to Europe’s top club competition in 2018.

Conte in his first season led the Nerazzurri to the Europa League final, where they lost to Sevilla, and nearly sealed the Serie A crown. This season it’s the Serie A. Next target Champions League.

Ralph R
By email