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Materazzi: ‘Juventus, Fiorentina won’t win Serie A’
The son of former coach Giuseppe Materazzi, the Inter defender courted controversy for most of his career, getting into trouble for his heavy tackling, punching Siena's Bruno Cirillo in the San Siro tunnels during the 2003-2004 season and kicking Andriy Shevchenko in the private parts during Champions league play.
The former Perugia, Inter and Everton man had such a reputation that many (non-Azzurri fans) chose to blame him… when Zinedine Zidane headbutted him during Italy’s win over France in the 2006 World Cup final in which Materazzi scored Italy’s equaliser from a corner.
The world champion is still going strong at 42, man debuting for Chennaiyin FC last year in the Indian Premier League’s inaugural season.
Materazzi spoke at length in this morning’s edition of the Gazzetta dello Sport about the current Serie A title race, about whether this Inter side has anything in common with the 2009-2010 Treble-winning side, and of a certain Rafa Benitez…
“Inter can go all the way, they’re a balanced team that can get a result against anyone. Some of their rivals may play better, like Fiorentina and Roma, but they’re also less clinical.
“I don’t think Fiorentina will keep this up till May. I think Roma’s season will depend a lot on the how the club, the fan base, the whole environment deals with it.
“Napoli are scary, Juventus are coming back into it but won’t win the Scudetto. Milan will qualify for the Europa League, despite Mihajlovic being a great coach. It’s tough to get creative when the quality is lacking."
Known as being a bit of an enforcer, Materazzi was asked about Felipe Melo, and if this Inter team had anything in common with Jose Mourinho’s Triplete-winning squad from 2009-2010…
“This team has something in common with the Treble winners, they’re a great group, we’ll have to see if they can lift trophies.
“I like Felipe Melo, when it comes to leading a team it’s not about the armband, it’s about what you have inside. Gary Medel and he are contagious.”
“Jeison Murillo and Miranda could be compared to Lucio and Samuel. You could also think that this duo has less experience, but that Murillo is very mature for a 23-year-old.
“Adem Ljajic and Ivan Perisic work hard and sacrifice themselves like Samuel Eto'o and Goran Pande, it means they’ve put aside their own personal glory for the benefit of the team, a key stage.
“It’s tough to compare Mauro Icardi to Diego Milito: Mauro has a lot of qualities, he’s scoring less at the moment but that’s because he’s doing the dirty work. Then again, Diego put the icing on the cake in 2010 [he scored in the Coppa Italia final, in Inter’s Serie A clincher against Siena, and in the Champions League final, all in the space of a week]. We’ll have to adjourn this one.
“Geoffrey Kondogbia is like Patrick Vieira”. [A bit of a dig at Kondo? ed]
The former Perugia defender then took a shot at a former Inter manager, Rafael Benitez, whose Real Madrid side are coming off an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in La Liga play.
Benitez’s former side, Napoli, face Inter this weekend, having improved in leaps and bounds under new manager Maurizio Sarri.
“Inter will win, Mancini will use a three-man defence again, and Murillo will be able to stop Higuain from getting behind him, which is what the Argentine is so good at.
“They’ll need to be perfect, however, as Napoli could play with their eyes closed, the only difference is that they have a coach now…”
“I was watching the Clasico this weekend and I felt like Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, John Terry and Paolo Cannavaro: all players who never felt at ease around him”.
