• 'I feel betrayed,' says the Inter owner Massimo
Moratti
• Benítez told there can be 'no alibis' in Abu Dhabi
Rafael
Benítez's hopes of staying at
Internazionale
into 2011 look increasingly remote after the team's owner,
Massimo Moratti, suggested for the first time that even winning the
Club World Cup might not be enough to save the manager's
job.
Last season's treble winners have won just two of their last
nine games in all competitions, but despite such poor form Moratti
had said as recently as last week that he would rate the season so
far as a 10/10 if they triumphed in Abu Dhabi. Successive defeats
to Lazio in Serie A and
Werder Bremen in the Champions League since then seem to have
changed the owner's tune.
"I feel betrayed," said Moratti when asked about the defeat to
Bremen. He had warned Benítez beforehand that he expected Inter to
take the game seriously despite the fact they had already qualified
for the knockout rounds, saying that a good performance was
"obligatory" and that the team must not embarrass itself. To lose
3-0, then, was a heavy blow, especially with the manager fielding a
below full-strength team.
"Now there are no alibis, the Club World Cup must be won,"
continued Moratti. Asked specifically about whether Benítez's
position was at risk, he replied: "I don't want to create problems:
neither before nor during the tournament itself." And after the
tournament? "Afterwards we will see."
Inter fielded a number of inexperienced players against Bremen,
including the 18-year-old Cristiano Biraghi and the 19-year-old
Obiora Nwankwo, making their first-ever starts for the club.
Benítez defended the decision to field such players, saying it was
important to avoid any further injuries – Diego Milito, Wesley
Sneijder, Júlio César, Maicon and Dejan Stankovic were among those
unavailable on Wednesday – before the Club World Cup.
But while Inter have suffered 42 separate injuries already this
season – the highest number in Serie A – Moratti is known to feel
that Benítez is at least partly to blame, having changed the
team's training methods significantly since replacing
José Mourinho. He has also criticised the manager for not producing
a team with sufficient "rage" to grind out results.
With two rounds of Serie A fixtures set to be completed while
Inter are away in Abu Dhabi, the Nerazzurri could find themselves
as many as 16 points off the lead in Serie A when they return.
"Benítez needs to show character," added Moratti. At this stage
even that might not be enough.
