“Inzaghi can’t play football at all, he just always is in the right position.” (Johan Cruyff)
“This player must be born offside.” (Sir Alex Ferguson)
“The rival attacker I least want to meet at a match is Inzaghi.” (Oliver Kahn)
Filippo “Pippo” Inzaghi was born in Piacenza on August 9, 1973. He is an Italian soccer player who plays as an attacker. There is a unique thing that made Inzaghi called as a man who “coincidentally” becomes a football player.
Inzaghi is the anti-theory of the other AC Milan’s keen attackers. Starting from George Weah, Andriy Shevchenko, to Alexandre Pato use running speed to penetrate the opponent’s back line barricades. However, none of them could compete with Inzaghi’s precise moves.
Even the legendary goalkeeper of caliber Oliver Kahn has once admitted the skill of this former AC Milan striker. In an interview, he confessed,
“He’s someone who is barely visible, you’re not even sure he’s playing but at the end of the match, the score will show 1-0 or 2-0 to Inzaghi’s win. He’s a very difficult attacker and maybe the one I don’t want to fight the most because he’s very unpredictable. “
“I have fought Ronaldo and Thierry Henry who have extraordinary skill, speed, and balance. However, the attacker I least want to face is Filippo Inzaghi. “
This Italian man had scored six times against Kahn in four matches which made Bayern Munich became the club outside Italy which he often beat.
However, Inzaghi has retired since 2012 so that there is no need for the current goalkeepers to worry that one day they will face an attacker like Inzaghi. Apparently, the current tactics development has not given a place for such an attacker.
It can be noticed that Inzaghi is a player with ‘skill minus’ as there is nothing special about him. However, it actually becomes a surefire move for him. That is why Inzaghi hated by many opponents but also worried Milan’s supporters. His body was thin, he did not have any good skill in playing a ball. He even preferred to retreat a few steps rather than to have a duel, hoping the opponent made a mistake. But again, that was the greatness of Inzaghi.
Besides the factor of “luck” that became his superiority, Inzaghi also had another precise trick called “waiting for the right ball to be drawn offside.” He always confused his opponents who did not expect his presence. With a distinctive dribble style, his waiting on the offside line could guarantee a goal for the team.
One day, his playing style was commented by the legendary Manchester United coach, Sir Alex Ferguson,
“He must have been born offside.”
Besides commenting on his playing style, Sir Alex also called Inzaghi a player who did not move much. Seeing how Inzaghi scored, it was like seeing a toddler kicking a ball into a small goal guarded by his father. Weak, slow, ordinary, but goals.
With its natural expertise, many people said that Inzaghi was “The right man in the right place.”
The way Inzaghi scored was seen as if he was mocking Lionel Messi who had to wriggle past the opponent in order to get the ball and scored a goal, Steven Gerrard who had to struggle to hard kick from the outside of the penalty box for scoring a goal, or David Beckham who had to wait for his team to get free kick to have a celebration.
Throughout his career, Inzaghi has won many prestigious trophies including Serie A, Italian Super Cup, European Champions League, European Super Cup, Club World Cup and World Cup 2006.
There are always many advantages behind flaws. Inzaghi, who is only trying to play football without the skill of a god and only need to kick the ball towards the goal, can already be one of the world’s sharpest attackers.
