5 things that happened since Inter Milan last qualified for the Champions League
Inter Milan ended their long wait for a Champions League return, after a dramatic 3-2 win over Lazio on the final matchday of the Serie A 2017/18 campaign.
A win was imperative to secure a direct qualification, as they trailed the Rome outfit by 3 points heading into the final fixture. The visitors twice fell behind in the game and only leveled the proceedings in the 78th minute when Mauro Icardi struck from the spot.
Senad Lulic was sent off in the next minute, as the hosts were down to 10 men, and Inter made the man advantage count when Matias Vecino scored the winner just three minutes later.
Le Aquile huffed and puffed for the remainder of the game, but another red card deep in extra-time rubbed more salt on their wounds.
The result means the Nerazzurris go through on superior head-to-head record, marking their return to Europe's premier club competition after 6 long years. But, several significant events have transpired since their last appearance. Here are the top 5 things to happen:
#5 Juventus end Serie A’s wait for a representative in the final
Ironically, it was Inter Milan in 2010 to be the last Italian side in a Champions League final until Juventus ended the run in 2015. In between those five years, not one Serie A outfit even made it to the last 4 - such was the plunge the league witnessed on the European horizon.
But, the turn of the decade saw the resurgence of the Old Lady, who overthrew both Milan sides to reclaim league dominance. And it’s epoch continues to this day.
However, the Bianconeris signified the re-emergence of Italian sides to the high table of European football, when they marched all the way to the finals of the Champions League in 2015.
They were undone by a swashbuckling Barcelona in the final hurdle but, gave themselves a shot at redemption by reaching finals again last year. This time, Juventus went down to the history-making Real Madrid side.
So while the wait for a Serie A contingent in the finals have long ended, it is yet to produce a winner since 2010 - when again, ironically, the Nerazzurri beat Bayern to claim the first and only treble in Italian football.