Inter Milan Vs. Schalke, 2011 UEFA Champions League: 5-2 Full Time, Nerazzurri Embarrassed

Not since Roma’s 7-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United has the UEFA Champions League seen a big team collapse so thoroughly and in such an embarrassing fashion as Inter Milan did today against Schalke. After an entertaining first half where Inter’s defense was fairly poor, but the team as a whole was better than Schalke, the home side didn’t even show up for the second and was torn limb from limb. Throughout the second half, Inter did absolutely nothing to show that they were a team that deserved to be in this competition, as Schalke scored three goals while Christian Chivu was sent off, allowing Schalke to notch a 5-2 win.

There’s almost certainly no way back for the Nerazzurri after this drubbing, as poor as Schalke have been at times this season. The chances of them giving up four goals at home seem next to non-existent, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see this loss negatively affect Inter in ways that extend beyond getting knocked out of this competition. This is now Inter’s second consecutive embarrassing defeat in four days, and pressure could be mounting on Leonardo and the rest of the side. Udinese and Lazio are not lurking far behind in Serie A, and Inter could soon be out of next year’s Champions League as well.

As bad as Inter were in the second half, nothing should be taken away from the men who made things go in attack for Schalke: Edu, Raul, and Jefferson Farfan. All three were absolutely stunning, and they made Inter look like amateurs. Jose Jurado and Alexander Baumjohann also put in very good performances, while the work rate of 18 year old Kyriakos Papadopoulos in the center of the pitch was fantastic.

Schalke have been to the quarterfinals of the Champions League once before, and they now look set to get to the semifinals for the first time in their history.