With injuries to Alexandre Pato, Robinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Milan Coach Massimiliano Allegri might be thinking he made a mistake leaving Pippo Inzaghi off the Champions League list. Certainly there’s a feeling amongst Milan fans that the decision may just come back to haunt him. It would have undoubtedly haunted Viktoria Plzen if Pippo had been playing.
After all, he is one of the greatest strikers of his generation; only one player (Raul) has scored more goals in the Champions League (including qualifying). Andriy Shevchenko, Alfredo Di Stefano, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry and Eusebio, hardly grubby company, are all behind him in that table.
The man himself has an enduring quality, although many would disagree, but you can see it in the desire and determination he puts into every goal. And whether it’s a pre-season friendly or a Champions League final, he celebrates like it was his first ever strike. Arms outstretched, a twisted expression and a quick foxtrot with the corner flag.
He has the sheer bloody-mindedness to score the ugly goals, but also possesses the movement and the intelligence to profit from wonderful pass-masters like Kaka and Andrea Pirlo.
Yet even eulogies on SuperPippo carry nuances of something less acceptable. He is waspish, devious and cunning - never brilliant or exceptional.
The Coach who brought him to San Siro claims he is on the same level as such club legends as George Weah, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit. “No great team should be without this kind of killer striker,” noted Carlo Ancelotti.
His worth to the club saw him earn a new contract last summer at the age of 38. A few eyebrows were raised with critics claiming that the role he made for himself as poacher extraordinaire is no longer applicable in football. Yet if that is true, why would a wily old Vice-President like Adriano Galliani give him the extension while claiming Pippo could play until he is 40? “I told Pippo he can be the Jose Altafini of Milan – the man who comes on with half an hour to go and decides the game,” said the bald one.
Galliani knows that the penalty area thief’s role is not dead in football and that when Inzaghi comes onto the pitch, if a goal is needed, that risky seductive pull of exotic otherness is distilled to its shiver-inducing essence. No club that knows its past and is aware of its future like Milan will ever rush into dispensing of such an efficient force of good fortune and talent.
Those specific abilities (luck and skill) that Pippo brings to important games were best exemplified by the two utterly crucial goals he scored in the 2007 Champions League Final against Liverpool.
His first, from a free kick, flew into the net off his upper arm, while the second was pure, unadulterated ability. Kaka picked him out, he spun past two defenders, pulled it wide of the advancing Pepe Reina and with ‘Uber’ coolness slotted the ball underneath his body. Whether he was being ironic or not ‘Alta Tensione Inzaghi’ took a look at the linesman to see if he was off-side. He wasn’t and lifted his second Champions League 10 minutes later.
The veteran deserves total respect and with those two Champions Leagues, two European Super Cups, three Scudetti, a World Club Cup plus several other domestic cups and not forgetting the 2006 World Cup, there is no doubt he has earned it.
Inzaghi may not have started in Europe, but he would have had a huge impact as a sub. Yes there are younger forwards in the Milan squad and yes certainly fitter, but have any of them got his experience and know-how? The key to winning the Champions League is experience and no-one has it like SuperPippo.
i am just having a brain freeze due to the shock that i wont get to see SES92
