2006 World Cup winning coach Marcelo Lippi turns 74 today and on the occasion, took the chance to delve into his thoughts regarding the intense three-way race that has emerged for the 2021/22 Scudetto championship.
Inter have managed to perform the best among the leading candidates for the title after both Napoli and Milan slipped up chances to add to their respective tallies.
The Viareggio-born tactician has no particular favorites to grab the tile, but pointed one team he believes will ascend the throne at the end of the campaign.
“I’m not saying who is favorite is, but in the last two or three games I have seen Inter more alive and angry than all of them,” he said (via TUTTOmercatoweb).
He then went on to praise the level of managers in the Italian top-flight, despite bemoaning the absence of great Italian footballers such as the ones from the past.
“Thanks to coaches like Italiano, Tudor, Juric, Andreazzoli, Zanetti, Cioffi: they play good football and create problems. They won against the big teams in Milan, Turin, Naples: it is the testimony that even with less than top level teams you can play proactive football,” he said, before continuing: “I remember about twenty, thirty years ago. There were many foreigners but Totti, Del Piero and Montella were born. Now there are no great Italian players.”
Lastly, Lippi focused on Italy’s World Cup failure at the hands of North Macedonia:
“Sorrow, bitterness, no one would have thought of losing against Macedonia. The national team showed us three years of great football, they won the European Championships and instead we are not going to the World Cup for the second consecutive time. It is a negative period of Italian football but let’s not forget that we are the ones who have won the most World Cups after Brazil.”
The former Sampdoria sweeper retired from professional football two years ago after etching a legacy very few could contest with, having won every major accolade in the beautiful game, including the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Cup.