Marco Materazzi believes Inter should have won two more Serie A titles, while insisting the France team defeated by Italy in the 2006 World Cup final was stronger on the day.
The former Italy and Inter defender was speaking at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, with his comments reported by TuttoMercatoWeb. He was asked to assess the current Inter side and said he had long considered them the best team in the league.
“For four or five years I’ve been saying Inter are the strongest, and we’ve probably left two Scudetti on the road,” Materazzi said.
Inter’s recent performances have included dramatic recoveries, with the Nerazzurri coming from two goals behind in three successive league matches. Materazzi said those comebacks demonstrated the team’s quality, but warned that they needed to avoid putting themselves in difficult positions.
“That shows how strong we are, but you have to go onto the pitch concentrated every time. When you go two goals down you then come back, it’s happened twice already. But enough now, let’s hope we win them all and concede less,” he said, laughing.
Materazzi also defended Cristian Chivu, who faced doubts from some observers last season. He said the Club World Cup had helped the team move on quickly from the disappointment of losing the Champions League final.
“Last year a lot of people had doubts about Chivu. I said that having the Club World Cup was positive, to immediately wipe the Champions League final from the players’ heads. Cristian did well, you can see it from the embrace with the players at the end of the season, you can see the empathy and intelligence he had.”
Reflecting on Inter’s treble-winning season, Materazzi recalled that Jose Mourinho had been open with him about his role in the squad.
“That year I knew I wasn’t a starter. I’d spoken to Mourinho and he made things clear. When someone does that from the first moment, he isn’t telling you lies and there are no tricks. I knew perfectly well what my role was: to help the team achieve important results.”
Materazzi also revealed that Mourinho had predicted the outcome of the 2010 Champions League final against Bayern Munich before the match.
“Ahead of the Champions League final I asked Mourinho: ‘What are they like?’, about Bayern Munich. And he said: ‘Relax, we’ll win 2-0 and you’ll come on.’”
The former defender scored Italy’s equaliser in the 2006 World Cup final against France before being headbutted by Zinedine Zidane. Despite winning the tournament, Materazzi said France had possessed the stronger team.
“At the 2006 World Cup we faced aliens, but as you well know, in football it isn’t always the strongest who win.”
