Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 9y

Christian Vieri says he'll always love Inter despite sour ending

Christian Vieri has spoken about his acrimonious departure from Inter Milan, insisting he will never stop loving the club despite what team officials did to him.

Vieri left the Nerazzurri in 2005, joining city rivals AC Milan after becoming surplus to requirements following the arrival of Adriano. It later emerged he had been spied on by Inter president Massimo Moratti.

While Vieri, 41, earned 1 million euros in damages after suing his former club, he says his love for Inter persists to this day.

"It's a real shame the way things ended there," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "I love Inter and I gave everything for them, killing myself every day for the Nerazzurri colours. I was the first to arrive for training and the last to leave. I never held back and sometimes I played when I could hardly stay on my feet."

Vieri scored 123 goals in six seasons for Inter, winning the Coppa Italia in 2005. He only found the back of the net twice for AC Milan, four times for Monaco, the same number of times for Atalanta and nine for Fiorentina after putting the most successful spell of his career behind him -- because he was forced to.

"Let's just say that when Adriano arrived, I didn't hear from the president so much," Vieri explained. "My relationship with Moratti had been special and strong -- extremely strong. We would call each other many times a day, even at three in the morning. He made me feel part of the family.

"I was happy, as a footballer and as a person, and I gave all the energy I had for the club. You can quite understand how incredibly disappointed I was to learn that he'd been tapping my phone and listening to my calls. Come on, that's the kind of thing the mafia does."

It led to a parting of ways which Vieri regrets to this day above all for the way it came about.

"All he had to do was be direct with me and I would not have had any problems leaving on good terms," Vieri said. "It was in the air that they wanted a revolution and after six years, maybe it was only normal that they wanted to try different players, but why couldn't we have resolved it between us? Why did he look to finish things that way?

"One day I said to him: 'President, don't worry, if I have to leave you only have to say, there aren't any problems.' And he said: 'No, no, Inter is all about me and you and I want you by my side.' So I insisted, to be absolutely sure: 'I mean it, president, if there are problems...' and he replied clearly: 'It's all good.' It was anything but good when I discovered he'd tapped my phone."

Despite not being told personally by Moratti that his contract was being terminated, and not having heard from him since, Vieri still respects the former Inter president and thanks him for giving him six glorious years with Inter.

"I'd shake his hand and give him a hug," he said when asked what he would do if he met Moratti again. "I will always be grateful to him for spending so much money to sign me from Lazio and allowing me to live six wonderful years, overwhelmed almost entirely by the love of the Nerazzurri fans.

"I even think they loved me too much, but I liked being their idol. I felt the pressure, but it delighted me to see how proud they were of me. I would come onto the field to warm up and the stadium would be shaking and those are feelings that are worth more than any trophies.

"I could never hate Inter -- make that clear to everybody. It's impossible because they were my best years. I did everything for that club, scoring almost a goal a game, suffering, celebrating and experiencing emotions which I'd never felt anywhere else.

"They were unique emotions because they were shared with the Inter fans. I still get photos of me with Ronaldo on Twitter -- what times they were! It's one of my biggest regrets, not having been able to play more with such a phenomenon. We were the best in the business, and what expectations there were of us.

"I can remember an Inter-Verona and we arrived at the stadium an hour and a half before kick-off and there were already 85,000 fans screaming our names. It sent shivers down your spine. I am proud of one thing and that is that I really gave all of my energy for those people."

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