I nter Milan face an uphill battle in the Europa League this week as they host one of the competition’s favourites in Wolfsburg already 3-1 down after the first leg in Germany. However, Inter have a rich history of success in the competition to provide the current crop inspiration.

Roberto Mancini — at the beginning of his second spell at the helm in Milan — will be acutely aware of the romance associated with his club and what used to be called the UEFA Cup. Inter reached the final four times in the nineties, triumphing on three occasions to make them the most decorated side in the competition’s history.

Mancio himself will vividly remember one of those Nerazzurri victories; his Lazio were swept aside, 3-0, by one of the finest Inter sides in recent memory at the Parc des Princes in 1998. Paris played host that night to the first year that the two finalists faced off in a one-off game at a neutral venue, as opposed to a two-legged tie played at the homes of both teams.

Interisti will fondly remember each of these UEFA Cup-winning teams throughout that decade and the current outfit should be encouraged to take inspiration from those sides as Mancini aims to guide the Nerazzurri back to the pinnacle of European football.

In a year that five Italian sides have advanced to the Last 16, memories of Serie A sides not only approaching Europe’s second competition seriously, but enjoying frequent success, bring parallels to the great teams of the 1990s. Inter, Juventus, Parma, Torino, and Roma made up 13 of the 20 finalists throughout the decade.

1991 – Inter Milan win their first UEFA Cup

Legendary manager Giovanni Trappatoni guided Inter to their first triumph in the UEFA Cup in 1991, edging out Roma 2-1 on aggregate. Lothar Matthäus and Nicola Berti’s goals at the San Siro in the first leg were enough to hold off the Giallorossi, whose 1-0 second-leg victory at the Stadio Olimpico failed to prevent their domestic rivals triumphing.

It enabled the iconic defender Giuseppe Bergomi to captain his first of several European successes, which, alongside his solitary scudetto in 1989, rank him in the upper echelons of the club’s greatest players.

Fellow cult hero Giuseppe Baresi — in the penultimate year of his 16-year spell with Inter — was a notable substitute in the first leg. Other Italians, many of which represented the Azzurri in their runs to the semi-finals of both the 1990 and 1994 World Cups — including goalkeeper Walter Zenga — made up the core of each triumphant Inter team.

The first of those sides though was distinguished by a trio of German players; Andreas Brehme, Jürgen Klinsmann and Matthäus rivalled Milan’s world class Dutch trio of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. Klinsmann and Matthäus combined for 40 goals that season, as Inter battled both on the Peninsula and the continent. They would eventually fall just short in the league though, as Sampdoria secured their first and only scudetto.

Aside from a hard-fought first round tie versus Rapid Wien, where the Austrians forced extra-time, the Nerazzurri were dominant en route to the trophy, particularly at home. In the subsequent five rounds, including the final, the Nerazzurri failed to concede a single goal at home, disposing of Aston Villa, Partizan, Atalanta, Sporting and Roma by a 12-0 aggregate score.

1994 – Dennis Bergkamp provides spark for Inter’s second trophy

Trappatoni quickly moved on to Juve after that season. President Massimo Moratti then rattled through three managers in three years—Corrado Orrico, Luis Suarez and Osvaldo Bagnoli—a trigger happiness which became a theme throughout his tenure. Giampiero Marini, who assumed the reigns after Bagnoli’s mid-season sacking, then oversaw the second UEFA Cup win in three years in 1994.

The Italian core of the 1991 side remained, although the German contingent had all since departed, but Dutch duo Wim Jonk and Dennis Bergkamp had arrived. The latter would form half of one of Europe’s most explosive strike duos, alongside Ruben Sosa. The soon-to-be Arsenal legend brought craft and guile to compliment his Uruguayan team mate’s devastating long-range accuracy, and ended as the tournament’s joint-top scorer.

A resilient Austria Salzburg side were beaten 1-0 twice in the final, but the quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund — who would subsequently claim back-to-back league titles in the following seasons — was perhaps the most impressive scalp of that year’s run.

1997 – Hodgson’s Inter fall just short

In a competition that would become kind to him in a future spell in charge of Fulham, Roy Hodgson was next to guide Inter to a European final in 1997. But the Nerazzurri were unable to maintain their perfect record in UEFA Cup finals, as Schalke made it back-to-back German winners after Bayern Munich had succeeded the year before.

It was a season of near misses for Hodgson, who finished third in the league and was eliminated in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia. It was especially painful to have levelled the aggregate score in the 84th minute of the final’s second leg through Ivan Zamorano. The San Siro crowd failed to lift their team over Die Königsblauen in extra-time, compounding a miserable year by losing on penalties.

1998 – Ronaldo leads Inter to their third UEFA Cup

Inter quickly avenged the final defeat though, returning to the final the following season. A 21-year-old Ronaldo carrying them to a third UEFA Cup in seven years, notching six times in the competition—Auxerre’s Stéphane Guivarc’h was the only player to better that total with seven goals.

A quarter-final win, again, after extra-time against Schalke proved a particularly sweet win, but the emphatic scoreline in the final really defined this side’s legacy. Goals from ‘O Fenomeno’, Zamorano and Javier Zanetti downed Lazio to really distinguish themselves as a great team.

2015 – Can Inter become the first side to claim a fourth trophy?

The current crop is not without talent, but it does seem like they will go as far as mercurial striker Mauro Icardi will take them. The Argentine is at the beginning of what should be a fine career, much like Ronaldo in his first year with Inter. A product of La Masia, Icardi will operate just ahead of Swiss no. 10 Xherdan Shaqiri, and the former Bayern starlet will look to supply the bullets for him and probably Rodrigo Palacio, who has struggled since the World Cup.

This trident certainly has aspects that resonate with Youri Djorkaeff, Ronaldo and Zamorano from the side of 17 years ago. Mancini is replicating Luigi Simoni’s one-two shape to spearhead the attack in a diamond formation.

The system evidently has issues that will concern Mancio though, primarily the lack of a high press, despite the back line’s tendency to operate high up the pitch. Inter are therefore often exposed and are effectively enticed into shootouts with the opposition. It certainly makes for entertaining viewing, although Interisti will undoubtedly yearn for the days when Jose Mourinho locked down opponents.

Gary Medel, the side’s current regista, particularly lacks pace and can be exposed at turnovers due to the mezz’ale (half-wingers)—currently Fredy Guarin and Marcelo Brozovic—leaving a chasm between themselves and the Chilean.

D espite considerable talent and experience, even the eternal optimists—who clamour to the training base at Appiano Gentile on a daily basis—will struggle to conceive a way in which Mancini’s side end up at the Stadion Narodowy in May. Still, the nostalgia of Ronaldo, Bergkamp and Klinsmann from decades ago might just help them try.

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Main photo credit: Diego Sideburns via Flickr.