Inter Milan’s hopes of reaching the champions league
went up in smoke after their defeat at home to Fiorentina at the weekend. The Nerazzurri
coming off a impressive run of games where they had beaten Celtic in Europa
league and won three consecutive league games folded against the Viola and saw
their efforts to reach third place and qualify for Champions League fade away.
Inter coach Roberto Mancini rotated his side a bit
after the midweek game and rested influential playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri instead
putting his faith on German striker Lukas Podolski. The misfiring striker put
in abysmal performance on the field and was replaced by Shaqiri in the second
half. The Swiss playmaker did his best to turn the game around but at the end
it was a case of too little too late. Mancini after the game was obviously not
happy with Podolski’s performance saying “Podolski needs to do more. His performances aren't sufficient at the
moment and he knows that better than anyone.”
The result leaves Inter
at eight place with 35 points, 10 points behind third place Napoli who also
lost on Sunday to Torino. Reaching third place now seems very difficult and
unattainable, perhaps next week’s fixture between Inter and Napoli be a better
indicator of where things are headed.
Inter’s best hope of reaching the Champions league is winning the Europa
league. The Italians are set to go head to head with Wolfsburg in the next
round and might focus all their efforts on the Europa League rather than the
Serie A. The next month or two will be a big indicator of where the club is
headed as it desperately needs the extra revenue that is brought in by reaching
the Champions League. 
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