Andrea Stramaccioni described his Inter rise and fall, including a comical introduction, Wesley Sneijder and Antonio Cassano controversy.
The tactician is now a free agent after terminating his contract with Panathinaikos by mutual consent and decided to spill the beans on his career to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.
“My wife is pregnant and in two months we’re due to have a little girl, while our son is two years old, so we need a little time to organise ourselves, but we will certainly return to Italy,” revealed Stramaccioni.
Andrea Stramaccioni described his Inter rise and fall, including a comical introduction, Wesley Sneijder and Antonio Cassano controversy.
The tactician is now a free agent after terminating his contract with Panathinaikos by mutual consent and decided to spill the beans on his career to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.
“My wife is pregnant and in two months we’re due to have a little girl, while our son is two years old, so we need a little time to organise ourselves, but we will certainly return to Italy,” revealed Stramaccioni.
“Panathinaikos chose me because their general manager used to work for the Greece national team and came to see my Udinese play for Orestis Karnezis and Panagiotis Kone. I was lucky, as we played good football and he recommended me.
“It was a good personal and professional experience. It all ends without controversy or damage.”
He had a promising playing career cut short by injury, going into the Roma and then Inter youth academies as a Coach before his promotion to the top San Siro job.
“At the start it was about staying close to the sport I loved, but when you’re coaching it becomes clear the best thing is to see what you thought up performed by someone else on the pitch. I always loved to teach football, as you learn from the lads too.
“My first day I tell the players that in order to work, a team must be founded on one word: respect. Respect for the rules, for positions and for people.
“(Inter director Piero) Ausilio advised me not to take the job, as he was afraid I’d get caught up in the controversy. I asked advice from two great friends, Daniele Conti and Vincenzo Montella, who instead told me to accept the challenge.
“Moratti took out a white notepad and asked me to draw how I was going to make Inter play. I told him everything I thought. Moratti lowered his glasses, looked over them at me and said: ‘I don’t care what the others will tell me, because you are the new Inter Coach.’
“I fell off my chair.”
“I had an odd first impact with the Inter squad. I found myself catapulted from the youth academy into one of the most important and pressure-filled locker rooms in the world. It was the year after the Treble, when Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri had been fired.
“The players saw this kid arrive, the same age as many of them. I remember the directors Ausilio and (Marco) Branca were meant to introduce me to the squad, but as I walked down the corridor, suddenly they weren’t there anymore. When I got turned around, they motioned for me to go in alone. It was a bit like a joke…
“It was rather comical. I arrived at the locker room and couldn’t open the door! I tried pushing and pushing, then someone pointed out it was a sliding door.
“So Inspector Clouseau over here finally enters and that fraction of a second felt like it lasted centuries. I looked at these stars who I’d previously only seen on Panini stickers – Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Julio Cesar.
“I thought to myself they were wondering what they’d done to deserve this. I pointed out that if I was chosen by the President, it was to put my football qualities at the service of the team with humility and also awareness of my own abilities.
“It was fantastic at the start, because in nine games we managed to qualify for Europe, won the derby 4-2 and created a real bond with the players. I am not stupid, I know it was the players who told the President I was the right Coach and that’s why I signed a three-year contract.”
However, Stramaccioni’s Inter experience proved to be short-lived.
“I pushed to sign Samir Handanovic and Rodrigo Palacio, but Douglas Maicon and Lucio left, who were important for me. The next season started so well, beating Milan, Napoli, Fiorentina and famously Juventus 3-1.
“Before that match in Turin I called in Milito, Palacio and Cassano, telling them the only way to cause Juve problems was to attack them. They looked at me for 10 seconds as if I was mad, but then perhaps they realised my plan was to play with three strikers and sacrifice ourselves marking Andrea Pirlo.
“We finished the first half of the season in second place, but two things happened. First a series of serious injuries to key men: Walter Samuel, Milito, Stankovic and Palacio.
“Then there were problems with the squad. The club wanted to sell Sneijder to raise cash, but he was my ideal Number 10 and we got along very well. Sneidjer refused to accept the new destination and the club asked me to freeze him out of the squad.
“When they told him, Wesley almost smashed the door of the office in. I couldn’t do anything about it, Wesley knew that, as the club was absolutely determined.
“With Cassano it probably was my mistake, however. I was convinced I could get the best out of an incredible champion and for six months he gave me so much. Then some tension erupted, partly due to his future contract. It ended and I am sorry about that.
“President Massimo Moratti had told me for months that he was looking for new investors and before a game with Lazio he took me aside to explain Inter was no longer in his hands. It was he who wanted me on that bench and with his era, my brief yet intense Nerazzurri season also came to an end.”