The Dutch is also a double ex of the challenge, just like the Nerazzurri coach: “He was a leader born as a boy, now he has made a bet and to win it he has to work on the players’s head after the disappointment of the Champions League final”
In one of the many large eradicas of Ajax, in the early 2000s, both talented boys dreamed of: the Romanian defender with very high reliability and the Dutch outside who was his opposite, hymn to unpredictability and madness. After playing together with Cristian Chivu for three years, Andy Van der Meyde only anticipated the former Nerazzurri companion: two Inter seasons from 2003 to 2005, intense as if they were twenty. However it goes, in Amsterdam the old friend will go to greet, also because for the 45-year-old Andy this Champions League debut lights memories: Ajax-Inter is a heated feeling for him.
Van der Meyde, surprised to see Chivu on that bench?
“For me, the captain-ragazzo will always remain, a year younger than me and already with the band at 21 years old. The Ajax is a planet other than everyone, you never look at the identity card, but if you are so early you have something special. Cristian was a natural leader in the locker room, respectful, always smiling: I would call it a real gentleman. At the beginning he took many red cards, but then matured. Player, then, very strong: good in marking, fast in one against one, excellent shot from the left.
Is there a game that binds her to him?
“Yes, the quarters against Milan in the Champions League 2002-03. He ended 3-2 for them at the last minute, with Tomasson’s goals: an atrocious and immense mockery. We played very well, but Chivu slipped precisely in the decisive action. Too bad, because we were really strong. In the end we left the Netherlands for Italy in the same year: he was always tied to Rome.
Don’t you think he got to Inter a little too early?
“Who decides that it is too early or not? If you have this job inside, there is no time problem. From Parma to Inter it is certainly a big leap, risky for everyone, but I think the managers know him well: they trust and have given him confidence. It remains a huge bet, but for me he can win it if he manages to take off the past. From Thuram to Lautaro, up to Calhanoglu. They must forget the end of last season “.
Do you still see the encrustations of the past?
“Yes, I explain the latest defeats … The Champions League was a terrible disappointment, with all the next chaos, the old coach who went away in that way and the controversies on the market. Chivu now begins a new time and has to work on the head: he has strong players to try again, like attackers and exteriors. Especially one …”
Yes, his friend Dumfries: did he do well to stay?
“In my opinion yes. With a world championship, it is important to always play. At Inter he has the almost insured place and this will also help him in the national team. He could have gone elsewhere, but he risked the bench. Now Denzel can remain the protagonist, and after 2026, perhaps, he will make a new choice. He is a strategic and unique player: he marks more than an attacker, provides assistant, is fundamental for Inter and for Holland”.
You tell us about this Ajax, on the other hand: how do you see it?
“Bad. They play a bad football, the coach changes formation often and there is no stability. The midfield is static, without technical quality, so the fans already complain and say that they no longer see the real kick of Ajax. Unfortunately, they are right. Inter can take advantage of it and I think it will do so. The Nerazzurri quality is much higher today, but it is also higher than rivals in Italy, from Naples to Juventus”.
Who are the key players to look carefully?
“Weghorst and Bergwijn in attack are the test for the defense of Inter who does not seem stronger as it once was. In midfield I say to look carefully Kian Fitz-Jim: they wanted to borrow and instead when he plays he is the best. Then Sopolo, very strong, recently returned, and Jaros, the goalkeeper taken from Liverpool who is doing well. Brian Bribby, who had not been at Leipzy, Convinced: it seems insecure. about DNA Ajax, on the bench there is one who knows him, like John Heitinta, another former companion: at my time and Cristian was young and braked by injuries “.
But at the end of the accounts, you for whom they are cheering?
“A blow to the heart, how can I say Ajax? I am Dutch and the Cruijff Arena was my home. But Inter is the other great love of life, even today around the world there is always some Nerazzurri who kneels in front of me and makes the sign of the rifle. I don’t know if the fans are more fond of me or my exultation …”
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