You might call it a bad case of the World Cup blues. Certainly, Brazilian ace Ronaldo, Italian star Roberto Baggio and Serie A side Inter Milan all appear to be suffering from it.

Undoubtedly, the most significant result of the week came in Seville last Wednesday when an over-defensive Inter Milan gave an abjectly negative performance in a 2-0 away loss to Real Madrid on the first day of the Champions League tournament. (The game was played in Seville and not Madrid because of a UEFA ban on the Real home ground, the Santiago Bernabeu).

It was not so much the fact of the loss as the manner of it which unleashed a storm of critical comment on the head of Inter coach Gigi Simoni. Most commentators, Italian or Spanish, found it inexplicable that the he had left the likes of Roberto Baggio, Frenchman Youri Djorkaeff and talented youngsters Andrea Pirlo and Nicola Ventola on the bench, preferring instead to field an extra-defensive midfielder, Maruo Milanese, in an all too obvious (and ultimately unsuccessful) exercise in damage limitations.

It was a case of "Jurassiccatenaccio" - old-style Italian soccer aimed at picking up the 0-0 away result. The statistics of the match reveal all - the corner kick count was 18-0 in favour of Real, while the Spanish side's German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner literally did not have to make a single save.

Real Madrid, it is true, are the current European Champions and the side includes talented players, but as Real's 2-2 home draw with Barcelona on Saturday night proved, the reigning European champions have yet to fire on all cylinders. Against Barcelona, the men from Madrid were twice pulled back with Barcelona's international strike force of Dutchman Patrick Kluivert and Brazilian Anderson equalising two first-half goals from Raul.

Ah yes, World Cup blues are the problem for Inter. Of all those famous less than fully fit names, none looks more out of shape than the wonder man himself, Ronaldo, reduced to the role of irrelevant spectator against Real.

Curiously, however, one World Cup survivor looks to be in the pink of health and fitness. Mr R Baggio currently looks as sharp, fit and incisive as at any stage in his brilliant career. Yet, he too has been afflicted with World Cup blues, although certainly not of his own creation.

At the centre of nationwide controversy during the World Cup because of coach Cesare Maldini's insistence on dropping him in favour of an obviously out-of-form Del Piero, he does not seem to be the coach's favourite player.

For him, though, the World Cup blues have lingered on. For Italy's opening European Championship qualifier against Wales on September 5th, new Italian coach Dino Zoff again preferred Del Piero and again we saw scenes similar to France'98 with a seemingly fresher Baggio coming on instead of an out-of-sorts Del Piero in the second half to immediately liven things up and set up the second goal (scored by Christian Vieri) of Italy's 2-0 win.

World Cup blues, then, hung heavy in the air at the San Siro on Sunday night when Inter lined out for their first home Serie A game of the season against Piacenza (Remember the Serie A season only began 10 days ago when, incidentally, Inter had hardly covered themselves in glory with a 2-2 away draw to newly-promoted Cagliari).

The Seville debacle had already prompted speculation that Gigi Simoni's job was in jeopardy, with ex-Real Madrid and AC Milan coach Fabio Capello already named as his substitute. To the relief of Simoni, Inter scrambled home 1-0 winners in an unimpressive performance, largely redeemed by their 100 per cent attacking attitude as exemplified by their opening lineout of Ronaldo, Baggio and Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano.

Best of all, the winning goal, albeit from the penalty spot, was scored by the same Ronaldo. Perhaps Inter are about to shake off those World Cup blues.