from today's Guardian:
The Guardian had this to say:
"Inter's stars opt to stay away
Leicester 1 - 2 Internazionale
O'Grady 87pen; Solari 27, Choutos 32
Richard Rae at Walkers Stadium
Tuesday July 26, 2005
The Guardian
The round of applause greeting the Internazionale team which trotted out to warm up last night was, in the circumstances, remarkably polite. Perhaps the Leicester City faithful, poring over their programmes, were busy trying to work out who was who; 10 of the players about whom the "Tonight's Visitors" pages waxed lyrical were not even in the country, let alone on the pitch.
At least the fans had the satisfaction of seeing Henry, the elderly huntsman whose ear-splitting rendition of the Post-Horn Gallop is a feature of Leicester's pre-match entertainment, put the wind up Santiago Solari. Inter's midfield recruit from Real Madrid was exercising when Henry's opening blast rent the air a few feet away. Solari's expression after he returned to earth was that of a man who clearly thought the hunting ban had not gone far enough.
It would be quicker to list those Inter players who stayed in Italy than those who braved the East Midlands drizzle and won to reward their coach Roberto Mancini, a former Leicester striker. Braved is the operative word, after the Serie A side called off their four-match English tour following the terrorist attacks in London, before being persuaded by the politicians such a move might be seen as lacking backbone.
Whether the threat of compensation demands from Leicester, Norwich, Crystal Palace and Portsmouth was a factor remains a matter of speculation, though judging by their performance in the early stages here, the 14,567 fans might still have been thinking about making a claim.
Without Francesco Toldo, Adriano, Kily Gonzalez, Ivan Cordoba, Juan Sebastian Veron, Javier Zanetti and Edgar Davids, Inter were initially second best. In fairness only one or two of their players had "personal concerns" about travelling, according to Mancini, and several are scheduled to travel today.
"From Milan to Rome and to London or wherever else, the risk of terrorism is the same," said Mancini. "There is no fear, in fact we are happy to be here."
After 90 seconds Peter Canero was cautioned for kicking Matteo Momente halfway into next week and Alan Sheehan followed him into the book for a similarly crude upending of Giorgos Karagounis. Leicester dominated midfield, and better strikers than Dion Dublin and the hapless Mark De Vries would have helped themselves.
Unlike Leicester, Inter could finish. Having decided to get involved they scored with their first two chances. Solari ran from midfield to beat Paul Henderson and then Lambros Choutos drove home . An 86th- minute penalty from the substitute Chris O'Grady made the scoreline look better for the hosts."
