Inter-Liverpool, Zhang’s match: this is how he aims to bridge the gap with the Premier

Eight hours straight on the fields of Appiano, does not often happen to the president of Inter in this era. But an eighth of Champions deserves time, attention and passions: it is the European nobility finally found, the shot beyond the borders expected by Suning, the good wave that continues after the first championship won by a foreign property in Italy. In his young presidential career Steven Zhang may have already reached a Europa League final, but even for him the most important Cup has a unique charm, let alone now that we are at the moment of the knockout matches.

Alla Pinetina

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For this reason, yesterday the 30-year-old number one of the club showed up at the Pinetina immediately after lunch and attended almost all of Inzaghi’s training on the sidelines. He spoke at length with Simone himself, spent time with the managers and stayed until the evening: he only left Appiano after having dined with the team and the staff. The fiery red colossus arriving in Milan deserves the utmost attention: at least the field will have to try to shorten the difference that stands out elsewhere. Between TV takings and commercial interest, the fork tends inexorably to widen. The difference between Inter (Chinese) and Liverpool (American) is also the daughter of the imbalance of the two systems that welcome the clubs: on this side the Serie A called to a tiring run-up, on the other the Premier that still flourishes thanks to the TV rights . It has now come to absorb 1.6 billion per year of foreign rights against 220 in our championship thanks to the sale of a collective format based on spectacle, emotion, level of confrontation, unpredictability. The Liverpool reds, who feed on Anfield’s boundless passion and enjoy the engine triggered by Klopp, meet the requirements as few meet the requirements.

Red boom

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In the distribution of TV revenues in the Premier there is a ratio of 1.6 to 1 between the first and last of the list. Precisely this wealth scattered like rain has attracted capital from abroad which has completely changed the geography of the owners. Those of the Reds arrived from the USA and pitched their tents on the banks of the River Mersey in 2010. They refer to an agglomeration, the “Fenway Sports Group”, with a melodious name for all baseball fans: the group owns the mythological Fenway Park , the oldest temple in the Major League, and the Boston Red Sox, the team that has lived there for over 100 years. The empire recently expanded in hockey with the purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL. This multinational sports and entertainment company has fully exploited the potential of a big English football player, before the slowdown due to the pandemic. The Premier stadiums that have always remained open this season allow us to imagine new oxygen for the coffers, but the latest available budget, which dates back to 2019-20, offers another truth: it demonstrates how the effects of Covid have been painful even for a virtuous system. Liverpool closed the fiscal year as of May 31, 2020 with turnover down to 559 million according to our exchange rate. The previous year, with the Champions League won, the ceiling of 600 was broken for the first time (625 to be exact): that year closed with a profit of around 49, while in 2019-20 the loss was arrived at 46. Many millions, but an incomparable drop compared to the Inter red record in the last balance sheet.

Missing Suning

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After all, in Milan they have other problems: the new Chinese mantra is, in fact, to rebalance the economic management after the deficit (never seen in Italy) of 246 million, and to keep together the sporting competitiveness as well. Translated: the Scudetto and these round of 16 must be targets to be attacked also in the future, despite the attention to the accounts. The 2020-21 budget, the worst in the history of Serie A, was however weighed down by about seventy million costs that will not recur in the next financial year, which will instead benefit from the return of part of the public, the new jersey sponsors and the salvific capital gains. by Lukaku and Hakimi. The closure of the taps from China still deprives the club of the investments of the past, even if the cash is flourishing thanks to the loan from the Oaktree fund. For his part, Zhang jr continues on the path of reducing operating costs, while for days he has been affected by the sparkling air of the Champions League: the last time at the stadium for a match in the most important Cup dates back to 10 December 2019. Then he presented himself at San Siro another great and it is better to forget the result: 1-2 by Barça and Conte eliminated. Since then everything has changed, even the perimeter around which Suning moves. The same old desire, however, is: the Nerazzurri want a stable place at the table set for the Champions League, perhaps even a surprise invitation to the private party of the 8 best.