Mourinho springs a very special coup

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST KNOCK-OUT ROUND, SECOND LEG:Attack proved the best form of defence for the Inter manager, writes RICHARD WILLIAMS

SELDOM DOES the mere arrival of the teamsheet create the first authentic thrill of the night. But given the identity of the man writing down the starting XI for the visiting side, perhaps it was no surprise. Coming to London to defend a 2-1 lead from the first leg, Jose Mourinho picked a side containing three out-and-out strikers.

One wondered what Helenio Herrera, the most illustrious of his predecessors at Internazionale, would have made of Mourinho’s apparent audacity in selecting Diego Milito, Samuel Eto’o and Goran Pandev together. Herrera, known as Il Mago – the magician – when he was guiding the club to consecutive European Cup victories in the mid-’60s, was the father of catenaccio, the system of uncompromising defence that made the Italian teams of that era so hard to break down.

The Special One has his own ideas. For him the best method of defence is to keep the opposition’s rearguard stretched. Because he is the most sophisticated of coaches, this does not usually involve committing all his resources to attack. What it does mean is a concentration on the art of transition, requiring not just pace and alertness but positional discipline.

When Mourinho arrived at Chelsea he changed the formerly free-flowing but inconsistent system to a 4-3-3 in which a fast transition from defence to attack became the prevailing mode. His Chelsea were unremittingly athletic and intimidating in a way that no Stamford Bridge side in living memory had been. The result was two league titles and a place as the most revered manager in the club’s history.

In Italy the story has been very different. A dysfunctional club for three decades until the Calciopoli scandal handed them the first of four consecutive Serie A titles in 2005-06, Internazionale still play in the shadow of Herrera’s philosophy. Mourinho continued the run of league championships begun by Roberto Mancini but without beginning to win the sort of respect and admiration he continues to enjoy on the Fulham Road. Last night, however, he brought off the sort of gamble from which few would withhold appreciation.

He had watched the replay of the first leg, he announced on the eve of last night’s match, no fewer than seven times, backing up Frank Lampard’s remark this week that none of the managers under whom he has worked has matched the thoroughness with which Mourinho prepares his players. One new element, however, was the presence of Ross Turnbull, Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper, in place of the injured Petr Cech and Henrique Hilario, and this – together with John Terry’s recent uncertainties – may have been in the Inter coach’s mind.

If so, it was a surprise that the Italian club’s representatives went through the opening 45 minutes without giving Turnbull a single really uncomfortable moment. Eto’o, Milito and Pandev saw plenty of the ball, prompted by Wesley Sneijder just behind them but the former Middlesbrough reserve keeper was being effectively shielded by his back four.

Much the same was happening at the other end, where Julio Cesar was largely untroubled. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka often threatened to cause problems but the fearsome central-defensive pairing of Lucio and Walter Samuel were always there to nick the ball away or put their imposing bodies on the line.

Mourinho’s barely-veiled belief that this is still his Chelsea was reinforced two minutes into the second period, when an Inter attack broke down and Chelsea pounced, the ball transferred from Anelka to Florent Malouda and on to Drogba, covering 80 yards in a handful of seconds.

Yet Inter should have taken the lead just before the hour, when Pandev broke clear but delayed his shot. A minute later Milito’s powerful drive brought Turnbull into meaningful action for the first time.

In the dug-out Mourinho sat alongside the cast of assistants familiar from his Chelsea days, modelling one of his charcoal overcoats and occasionally jumping up to deliver detailed instructions. When Sneijder overhit a cross from the left, with the entire attack fingering the trigger, the manager reacted to the rare error from the Dutchman by leaping from his seat and shaking with rage as though convulsed by a thousand volts of electricity.

Maybe it worked, because Sneijder’s next contribution was the pass that sent in Eto’o to fire the winner past Turnbull.

GuardianService