It's been 5 years since Vecino scored against Lazio.
Since then, we were in CL every season, we managed to reach a EL final, we won a Scudetto, we won a Coppa Italia, 2x Supercoppa and are in two finals this season. We had to endure more than 5 years of bullshit Inter to get these 5 years that brought joy and better football.
Everything about that day is something I will remember for the rest of my life. I wasn't around during the Mancini(1.0) or Mourinho years, I only knew banter era shit. We had a fantastic start to the season, but we did the same in 2015-'16 and then the wheels fell off midseason, and that season was following the same pattern. We lose the last home game to Sassuolo and look like we were thoroughly fucked, but Crotone drew to Lazio and saved our asses and gave us a final chance where it was win-or-bust. It felt like it took forever for Sunday to roll around that week. And then after all that, we're trailing most of the game, and then the crucial 3-step process all occurred in rapid succession:
1) Eder draws a penalty, scored by Icardi
2) Lulic gets red carded immediately after the restart
3) Vecino scores off the corner
And then needing to hold on for those last 10 minutes or so, with no subs and an attacking lineup on the field knowing a draw was as bad as a loss. Christ, those 10 minutes felt like an hour, but when the final whistle came I damn near ran out of my home in celebration. Best moment as an Inter fan by a mile up to that point. It's only since been surpassed by the derby we just had, and only that because when we won the Scudetto in '21, circumstances around that for me basically never gave me a proper chance to enjoy and celebrate it, and in a way it makes me even more bitter because who knows when we're gonna win the Scudetto again. Regardless, everything that happened in the last five years may not have been possible without that goal and the CL qualification that came with it. Vecino was mostly complete dogshit with us but he scored the goal against Tottenham, he scored in the derby, and he scored this goal. He left a positive impression overall just through those alone.
10 years of FIF
