After the Manchester derby, the Champions League 16 knockout round is just around the corner.

Manchester United's opponents are last season's treble winners Inter Milan, who is Gao Xiaodong's former club.

If United fans had known in advance at the start of the season that they would face Inter Milan in the knockout rounds of 16, they would have been a dog.

But the mood is much better for the Reds now, and I would like to say a word of thanks to former Reds coach Rafael Benitez.

Of course, the current Benitez is also a former Inter coach.

Although Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong, the two cornerstones of Inter Milan to win the treble, left Inter Milan in the summer, the basic framework of Inter Milan is still there, and the core has been reduced by half a notch from Gao Xiaodong to Sneijder, and the head coach has been reduced by half a notch from Benitez to Mourinho.

Such Inter Milan dare not say how good it can continue to achieve in the Champions League, the semi-finals are still guaranteed, and there will be no suspense in Serie A.

However, after Benitez took charge for half a year, Inter Milan's dressing room was chaotic and in a slump, and it was a mess that was simply unbearable.

Rafael Benitez was held to a 0-0 draw by Bologna on his Serie A debut, which also foreshadowed the Spanish manager's road to coaching. After the next three consecutive wins, Inter climbed to the top of the table, which was the position that Inter people were most accustomed to, but it proved to be a flash in the pan. A 1-0 defeat to Roma in the fifth round was a turning point in the Nerazzurri's new season, and after a 0-0 draw at home to Juventus in the sixth round, they lost their place in the frontrunners, and were held back by city rivals AC Milan and never came back again.

Starting with a 1-1 draw with Brescia in the 10th round, Inter began an embarrassing four-game winless run, and from the 12th round to the 15th round, they suffered three defeats in four games. The defeat at home to AC Mi was a testament to the fact that a proud 46-game unbeaten run at home in 967 days was sealed, and the end of 53 matches in all competitions since November 2008, ending the 'happiest home in Europe'. The defeat away to Lazio also brought to naught the record of seven years of not living up to the Blue Eagles, and the city rivals took the opportunity to leave Inter far behind.

Halfway through, Inter Milan were 13 points behind leaders AC Milan and slipped to fifth, Inter's worst record in the same period in the last six seasons, so much so that the Nerazzurri had to fight desperately for a Champions League place after the New Year.

The league has been dismal, and Inter Milan's performance in the Champions League has been disappointing. Their group opponents were not strong, with Tottenham, Bremen and FC Twente only being second-tier teams in Europe, but the record of finishing second in the group with only seven points made the Nerazzurri the worst defending champions since Porto in 04-05. The 3-1 defeat to Tottenham, the 3-0 defeat to Bremen and Bale's hat-trick in Meacha are memories that the Nerazzurri fans will not recall.

The draw of Manchester United, the best in Europe, in the round of 16, almost indicates that the defending champion Inter Milan's Champions League road this season may be coming to an end in the round of 16.

Inter Milan won the Club World Cup during the winter break, which is a good thing for Inter Milan, anyway, it is a trophy for club competitions all over the world, and if it is handled well, it may be a turning point for Inter Milan to regain their glory.

However, the Club World Cup not only did not give Inter Milan a new life, but intensified Inter Milan's internal contradictions.

Moratti just won the treble last season, and when he was arrogant to the extreme, he heard Benitez criticize his recruitment policy, and Moratti, who was supervising the game in Tokyo, came up in a rage, and returned to Italy, Moratti directly fired Benitez and invited the former sworn enemy head coach Leonardo.

Treble winners Inter Milan have fallen to this point, and the biggest sinner is of course Benitez.

The Spaniard, who took over Mourinho's Treble squad in the summer, was determined to erase the madman's mark on Inter Milan from the day he stepped into the Pinettina base, and Benitez demanded the removal of Mourinho's portrait, which also caused dissatisfaction among the players and caused a gap between Benitez and the players.

Tactically, Benitez and Mourinho have very different core ideas. Espanyol emphasizes high-pressing tactics and requires the team to pay more attention to the control of the field, while Mourinho rarely emphasizes ball control and high-level pressing, focusing on counterattacks, after Benitez changed his tactical play, Inter Milan has a high possession rate, but the offensive efficiency is extremely low, and he can't win against the weak team and lose against the strong team.

Of course, the results are so bad, it is not Benitez alone, he can't carry such a big pot, and the second biggest sinner of Inter is President Moratti.

After more than a decade of investment regardless of the cost, the successful Moratti seems to be reluctant to continue the struggle.

Last summer's transfer market was the most frugal season for Moratti as president. Inter Milan let go of Gao Xiaodong, but after getting 80 million euros, they only brought in a backup goalkeeper Castellazzi, while Biabiani only redeemed half of the ownership, and Coutinho was a deal that had been finalized two years ago. The team is too old and lacks investment, and once there is an injury, there is no one to top it, which is obviously an important reason for Inter's performance.

In addition to the biggest responsibility for the manager and the president, the core of Inter Milan is also to blame. In addition to Eto'o's brave form and scoring in all 7 games this year, Milito, Sneijder, McCone and others have all declined sharply after winning the treble, Milito does not have the toughness of scoring last season, Sneijder has the most shots in Serie A but has not scored a single goal, McCone, in the Champions League was completely blown up by Tottenham's magic wing Bale.

After such a group of "old men" lost their fighting spirit, it is not surprising that Inter Milan's lightning crash.

In this half season, Inter Milan fans miss Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong the most, and almost all the Nella groups believe that if these two are left alone, Inter Milan will not collapse at least this season.

Of course, there are also media and fans who think that Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong are a pair of slippery heads, they just saw that Inter Milan's state and luck last season could not be replicated, so they resolutely left at the end of the season.

It turned out that Mourinho and Gao Xiaodong were the winners in life, and after changing owners, Mourinho's Real Madrid was second only to Barcelona, while Gao Xiaodong's Manchester United became the hottest team in Europe.

After Leonardo's succession, Inter Milan's results improved, with seven wins and two defeats in seven Serie A games.

But such a record can't change the pattern of Serie A, they are still 11 points behind AC Milan, there is no hope of the Serie A title, and now they can only pray that they can take out the old fritters Manchester United in the Champions League, otherwise it will be another season of four big empty.