Reuters Soccer Blog

Italian soccer on the pitch has a largely undeserved image of being boring, with 1-0 wins and catenaccio supposedly the norm.

Off the pitch Serie A is surely the craziest league in Europe with match-fixing scandals, coaches being sacked the day before the season, and players and managers switching between rivals like they were picking teams in the school playground. 

Former Inter Milan hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic joining AC Milan just a year after saying he was bored with Italy was weird enough but ex-Milan boss Leonardo becoming Inter coach takes the biscuit.

Leonardo is Milan through and through given he was also a player there but his season in charge of the Rossoneri last term was not that successful so why on earth would Inter president Massimo Moratti choose him to replace Rafael Benitez?

Can you imagine the reaction in England if Arsene Wenger went to manage Manchester United? Sure Mark Hughes was a top United player and went on to manage Manchester City but it wasn’t just one season later.

Yes Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho used to work at Barcelona but it was a while ago and he was only an assistant at the Nou Camp.

Inter had their fingers burnt once before employing a great rivals’ coach. Marcello Lippi was gone in a year after joining from Juventus in 1999.

On the other hand, pundits such as Gabriele Marcotti have argued that choosing Leonardo is a masterstroke from Moratti given the intelligent Brazilian has had a season to hone his management skills, knows current league leaders Milan inside out and will have good relations with Inter’s large contingent of South American players.

We will see but I can’t wait for the next Milan derby on April 3!