Stefano Tomasoni
La Coca-Cola di Boninsegna

The leadership of the Italian Championship is not in dispute. Inter has won the last four league titles and is set to win the fifth consecutive "titulo" without too much difficulty. It would be a record. Only Juventus during the so-called "Quinquennio d'oro" (from the 1930-31 season to the 1934-35 season) and the Grande Torino managed to achieve such a feat. But the easy jokes about Inter's past and future in Champions League abound. Inter struggles to make the definitive leap in quality to impose itself on the international stage. Since the Champions League was established, it has managed to win against teams considered "greats" of Europe only four times.

1. 1998-99 edition. Gigi Simoni's Inter won 3-1 against Real Madrid thanks to a extraordinary performance by Roberto Baggio, who came on in the 68th minute for Zamorano and scored a decisive brace.
2. Champions League 2003-04. Led on the bench by the "Hombre vertical" Héctor Cúper, Inter won 3-0 at Arsenal's home (goals by Cruz, Van der Meyde, and Martins). However, the result would be nullified a few months later when the Nerazzurri, with Alberto Zaccheroni now on the bench, lost 1-5 at home against the Londoners. A defeat that is still the cause of some controversy and that would cost elimination from the Cup already in the group stage.
3, 4. We must also consider Valencia a "great" of Europe - in recent past, under the guidance of Héctor Cúper, one of the unluckiest coaches in football history, it played two finals - which Inter defeated twice. The first time 1-0 (2002-03). The second at the Mestalla during the 2004-05 edition with the result of 5 to 1. Goals by Stankovic, Vieri, Van der Meyde, Adriano (the true star of the match, perhaps his best in the Nerazzurri shirt), Cruz.

For three years, the Nerazzurri's path has stopped at the round of 16 (Valencia, Liverpool, Manchester United). The last time Inter played the quarterfinals was in 2006-07 (Villareal), a semifinal since 2002-03 (Milan). The last final dates back to the 1971-72 edition of the European Cup.

The 1971-72 edition of the European Cup was that of "La Coca-Cola di Boninsegna". The events are well narrated in this book by Stefano Tomasoni, published by Limina and with a foreword by Luigi Maria Prisco, son of the unforgettable Peppino.
That season the Serie A Championship was won by Juventus under Zeman's uncle, Cestmír Vycpálek. Boninsegna won the top scorer title. Inter finished the league in fifth place. On the bench sat Mister Giovanni Invernizzi, who in the previous season had led the team to win their eleventh league title. The president was Ivanoe Fraizzoli and from the Grande Inter of Helenio Herrera, Burgnich, Facchetti, Bedin, Jair (after a period with Roma), Mazzola, and Corso were still part of the team. Added to these were the goalkeeper Vieri, the stopper Giubertoni, the midfielder Bertini, the half-back Frustalupi, and Boninsegna. Joining the first team were Bellugi, now a popular TV personality, and Lele Oriali. The 1971-72 European Cup would be "the last season, the swan song of a formidable team that, despite the departure of Moratti, Herrera, and some important players, was not yet finished".
The UEFA draw for the round of 16 set up a clash between Inter and the Germans Borussia Mönchengladbach, the less illustrious of the "Borussia". The other, Dortmund, is known to Italian fans for a Champions League won in the nineties in the final against Juventus with a team full of players discarded from our league (some of these, among other things, had also won the European Nations Championship in England the year before...). But the unpronounceable Borussia Mönchengladbach in the seventies was one of the strongest teams around, perhaps the only one that could realistically hope to play on equal terms with the mighty Dutch of Ajax. The star was Günter Netzer, a midfielder who would later become an absolute protagonist wearing the West Germany jersey, winning the World Cup and European Championship, and in La Liga with Real Madrid. But it's worth mentioning defenders Klaus-Dieter Sieloff and Ludwig Müller, the Dane Ulrik le Fevre, the world and European champions Herbert Wimmer, Rainer Bohnof, and Wolfgang Kleff. The forward Joseph "Jupp" Heynckes and the defender Berti Vogts, two who would later become greats even on the bench (Vogts also won the European Championship as a coach in 1996, but let's not digress...).
From October 20, 1971, to December 1, 1971, the Italian and German champions would meet three times. The first leg took place at Bökelbergstadion in front of twenty-seven thousand people. The fans who stayed at home had to make do with radio commentary as the Rai couldn't reach an agreement for the broadcast of the match. Half an hour into the game and with Borussia leading 2-1, the referee awarded a throw-in to Inter. Boninsegna was about to throw the ball back into play when he was hit squarely by a Coca-Cola can thrown from the stands. At this point, all hell broke loose. "Bonimba" fainted. Mazzola picked up the can and handed it to the referee. The legendary Sir Matt Busby, who was the UEFA commissioner assigned to oversee the match, advised resuming the game, to play, and leave any complaints for later. Invernizzi replaced Boninsegna with Gian Piero Ghio. Borussia scored five more times and Inter finished the match with nine men because Jair left the field due to injury (but Inter had already used up their substitutions) and Corso was expelled for kicking the referee. In the end, Borussia Mönchengladbach won 7 to 1.
An incident like the one that happened to Boninsegna was unprecedented in the history of European competitions. Inter lodged an appeal and clashed against the UEFA regulations in a battle that seemed lost from the start and that saw them emerge victorious only thanks to the tenacity of lawyer Peppino Prisco, historic vice-president and master of the Milanese bar: on October 28, the judges ruled that the match would be replayed on neutral ground. The rest is history written in the annals. Inter won 4-2 at home (on November 3) and drew 0-0 in Germany on the neutral ground of Berlin. After overcoming Borussia Standard Liege and Celtic Glasgow, they reached the final in Rotterdam, where they lost two to zero against Ajax led by Stefan Kovács. A team full of champions, too strong and "modern". These are the years of the Netherlands' "total football", which to date is the last true great revolution in football. Both goals were scored by Johann Cruyff.

Curiously, Inter's near future in Europe seems tied precisely to the performances of one of the most talented Dutch players of his generation. Wesley Benjamin Sneijder, born in Utrecht, like a renowned "swan" who wore the jersey of the other Milan team and who won some European Cups, is called upon to change the course and fate of the Nerazzurri in Europe. But it is evident that this time it will take more than a can to pass the round. A bit of the charisma of the old Peppino Prisco wouldn't hurt this team to finally become "Internazionale".