Soccer: Inter acknowledge Milan threat to dominance
Treble winners held 0-0 at Bologna in Serie A opener
31 August, 13:03
(ANSA) - Rome, August 31 - After making contrasting starts
to their league campaigns, treble winners Inter Milan
acknowledged Tuesday that city rivals AC Milan now pose a big
threat to their five-year dominance of Serie A.Milan thrashed Lecce 4-0 in their opener on Sunday, riding on the wave of enthusiasm created by the club agreeing to sign former Inter forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Barcelona.
But Inter, who won an unprecedented Champions League-Serie A-Italian Cup treble under Jose' Mourinho last term, could only respond with a goalless draw at Bologna Monday in new boss Rafa Benitez's debut in the Italian top flight.
''Now the competition with Milan is real,'' Inter chairman Massimo Moratti said Tuesday of the local rivals, who have not won the Serie A crown since 2004.
Milan are also poised to draft in Brazil forward Robinho on loan from Manchester City.
The renewed challenge seems to have Inter scrambling to make up for their inactivity on the transfer market, as the reigning European and Italian champions looked slow and predictable for long spells against Bologna.
Their main target is reportedly Udinese's Switzerland midfielder Gokhan Inler, although they have also been linked to Lazio's Argentine playmaker Cristian Ledesma with the transfer market set to close later on Tuesday. ''We are a good team as we are, but we'll see what we can do in the last hours of the market,'' Moratti added.
''We are coming on, we just have to be patient. We also drew our first matches in the past few seasons and it brought us luck''.
Last year's runners-up AS Roma and rebuilding Turin giants Juventus also made slow starts to their campaigns at the weekend, drawing 0-0 with promoted Cesena and losing 1-0 at Bari respectively.
