Soccer
What happened to the players in Jose Mourinho's Champions League-winning Inter team?
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The Champions League returns tonight and with it an all-star clash between Real Madrid and Inter Milan in the opening of the league phase.
Incredibly, it's been 15 years since a Serie A side triumphed in Europe's premier competition. Back then, it was Inter who lifted the trophy as they beat Bayern Munich in 2010's memorable showpiece that saw the club complete a historic treble.
The manager that day? José Mourinho, who's now back at Real Madrid and looking to get one over his former club as they both begin their European campaigns.
DAZN News looks back at the stars of the last Italian European champions.
Julio Cesar
The Brazilian was at his peak during Inter's glorious campaign and considered to be one of the best goalies in the world at that time, winning Serie A's Goalkeeper of the Year for a second season in a row that term.
He'd go on to make 300 appearances for the Italian club before making an infamous move to newly promoted Premier League side QPR. He failed to help Rangers stay up in a mess of a season for the West London side, and left the club after just 27 appearances to later play for Benfica and Flamengo before becoming an agent after retirement.
Maicon
A rampant Brazilian right-back who moved to Inter in 2006 and was a regular fixture in their defence for almost 250 games.
He left the San Siro the season after the treble triumph, spending a brief year in the Premier League with Manchester City before returning to Serie A with Roma. Maicon moved back home in 2017, where he wound down his career at several lower league clubs.
Walter Samuel
Big, strong and imposing, the Argentine is often overlooked when talking about some of the top defenders of that era.
He joined Inter from Real Madrid in 2005 and spent nine years in Milan, where he was arguably at the top of his game. After making 236 appearances, he left and finished his career at Swiss side Basel and is currently the assistant manager of Argentina's national team.
Luicio
Another hard-hitting defender in Inter's imperious back three, Luicio was an ever-present in their Champions League-winning side and was a World Cup winner in 2002 for Brazil.
He joined the club that season, moving from Bayern Munich and spent three years in Milan.
He'd later play for Juventus before moving back to Brazil with São Paulo and a string of sides in his homeland. He's remained relatively quiet in retirement, but was rushed to hospital last year following a domestic accident that caused burns to his body.
Christian Chivu
The link to 2025 comes from defender Chivu, who is the current Inter manager.
The Romanian enjoyed spells at Ajax and Roma before moving to Milan in 2007, where he'd play 168 games and wind down his playing career. He has since gone into management first with Parma, and now as the man looking to repeat Inter's 2010 win from the sidelines after winning the Scudetto in his first season at the club.
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Javier Zanetti
Zanetti was already an Inter legend by the time he cemented his legacy by being the captain to lift the European Cup in 2010.
The defender joined the club in 1995 and would go on to make a record-breaking 858 appearances for Inter in a career that saw him win five Serie A titles as well as the Champions League.
Upon his retirement, they retired his number 4 shirt and is still at the club in a vice-president role.
Esteban Cambiasso
Another member of Inter's Argentinian contingent, who spent a decade in Milan and racked up over 430 games for the club.
The clever midfielder, best remembered for one of the World Cup's best-ever team goals, left in 2014 and enjoyed a brief but memorable stint in the Premier League with Leicester, helping them escape relegation a year before they achieved the unthinkable.
He finished his career in Greece with Olympiacos, and although he's done all his coaching badges, Cambiasso is yet to step into that field.
Wesley Sneijder
One of the best players of his generation and the most capped Dutch player of all time, Sneijder was a joy to watch.
He arrived in the summer of 2009 from Real Madrid and was one of the stars of Inter's trio of trophies, providing the most assists in the Champions League that season.
After four seasons in Milan, he moved to Galatasaray before injuries took their toll in further spells across France and Qatar. Since retiring, he has worked for Utrecht and appears as an ambassador for the club.
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Diego Milito
The hero of the 2010 final as his two goals secured Inter's magical moment in a man of the match display from the Argentina striker.
It topped off a season, where he'd scored 30 goals for the club, a career-best total for Milito.
He moved back home to Racing in 2014 and has stayed at the club following retirement, where he's currently in a sports manager role.
Samuel Eto'o
The Cameroonian scored 16 goals in Inter's treble-winning season during a three-year spell where he netted 53 times in just 102 games for the club.
After Inter, Eto'o toured the globe, appearing in Russia for Anzhi, before two seasons in the Premier League with Chelsea and Everton. He'd stop at Sampdoria, Antalyaspor and Qatar SC before retiring in 2019.
In 2021, he was elected President of the Cameroonian Football Federation, but later ran into controversy due to breaching the world governing body’s disciplinary code.
Gordan Pandev
A Macedonian legend, Pandev spent nearly his whole career in Italy, with Inter's 2010 win, the biggest moment of his career.
Pandev made his name at Lazio before his spell at Inter from 2009-12 and would later play for Napoli, Genoa and finish at Parma.
An international with 122 caps, the forward is seen as North Macedonia's greatest ever player and is currently the sports director of the national team.
Manager: Jose Mourinho
The Special One delivered another special moment at a time when he was still considered to be one of the best coaches in the game.
The treble proved to be his final act as Inter boss as he was lured to Real Madrid that summer, where he'd win the La Liga title before a dramatic return to Chelsea in 2013.
Spells at Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica followed but Jose's now back at Real Madrid, looking to get the club back on track and prove he's still as special as he once was.
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