Francesco Colonnese still appreciates the way the Nerazzurri taught Lazio a lesson in the 1998 UEFA Cup final. Still on Top Calcio 24, he said:
“We entered this final after a bitter defeat against Juventus in Turin, we had lost the Scudetto.”
“We trained before Lazio and then stopped for five minutes to watch them practice. We saw that they were training very superficially, they were a team convinced they could tear us apart. Maybe they thought we had suffered a blow following the loss of the Scudetto. Ronaldo had also read the newspapers in which Lazio players and managers said they knew how to stop him, because that year Lazio were the only team he hadn’t scored against. He got angry and said:
‘If they know how to stop me? I’ll take care of it tomorrow!‘
Ronaldo said those same words and the next day, he ridiculed everyone, and if you’ve seen this match, you understand why there was a bus against him. Lazio players wanted to stop him in every way, but he was unstoppable. They were strong, but we deservedly won. We had something more than them.“
On the rivalry Juve – Inter.
“The great antipathy between Juventus and Inter was born that day. This has been going on for 21 years because this team, this coach, this group and this president deserved this Scudetto and it was snatched from us! So there is in each of us this big open wound that has been going on for years. I’m sorry Inter were knocked out from Coppa Italia by Juventus last week, despite a good game. It would be better to play ugly and win and when that doesn’t happen, the disappointment is twofold.“
Morality 1: “Never provoke an exceptional player.“
Morality 2: “The ugly is beautiful when it leads us to victory.“
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