SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:NOT SURPRISINGLY, the words "Heroic", "Epic", "Immense" and "Glory" flashed all over the Italian front pages yesterday morning, following Inter Milan's intensely dramatic qualification for the Champions League final at the expense of Barcelona at Camp Nou Camp on Wednesday night.

Not surprisingly, too, one man, Inter coach José Mourinho, was singled out for lavish praise in the wake of a triumph which for many commentators represents a major morale boost for Italian football, notwithstanding the fact the Inter coach is, of course, Portuguese and that not a single Italian featured in the Inter team.

Typical of Italian reaction to the game was this from Rome daily, La Repubblica: “Faced with 11 Red Indians too much in love with their arrows to actually fire them, José Mourinho placed 10 cavalrymen in front of the fort (the 11th, Thiago Motta, had opted for the Crazy Horse role) and he then went on to defend it with his hands in his pockets . . . ”

Italy’s leading sports daily, Gazzetta Dello Sport was just one of many commentators to reinforce the point, calling his handling of the game “yet another tactical masterpiece”, adding: “And you have got to distinguish between out and out defence (the old catenaccio) and defensive discipline. Mou (Mourinho) went for the second option and, with the exception of the final minutes of assault, he kept Barca far away from the Inter goal.”

In his two years in Italy, Mourinho has often had a difficult time both with the media and with the fans of just about every team other than Inter. This may be about to change radically given Mourinho’s post-match Italian TV declaration to the effect that this was “the greatest triumph of my career”.

Furthermore, Mourinho’s histrionic post-match pitch celebrations might have annoyed Barca goalkeeper, Victor Valdes, who tried to restrain him but they will have endeared him forever to a whole generation of Inter fans.

Not only Valdes but also the Camp Nou groundsmen got annoyed by the Inter celebrations, as La Repubblica pointed out: “How are we going to stop all this joy, the Barcelona groundsmen said to themselves. Simple, we’ll turn on the watering system”.

For Inter, the water incident was merely the last of a whole series of Barca “tricks”.

After the game, Mourinho pointed out that Barca fans were setting off fireworks outside the Inter team hotel until four in the morning. Furthermore, the Inter coach also revealed Catalan finance police came by the hotel to interview current Inter (former Barca) striker Samuel Eto’o about unpaid income tax, implying that this too was a tactic intended to upset his men.

All commentators point out that it is now 45 years since Inter last won the Champions Cup. That Inter side, coached by legendary Helenio Herrera, was renowned worldwide for its dour “catenaccio” defensive game.

La Repubblica suggests that if Herrera was watching from up above on Wednesday night, he might well have approved, writing: “Helenio Herrera’s spirit will probably have enjoyed this and he probably smiled at it – if spirits smile, that is.”

All the commentators suggested that from the moment Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta got sent off, Inter appeared to be facing an impossible task.

Rome sports daily, Corriere Dello Sport was just one of many to suggest the Motta sending-off would have cracked the “nerve” of many teams, adding: “But Inter showed themselves to be very solid. We have known for some time that this is a physically very strong side, now we know that they are also very strong mentally.”

As for the sending-off of Thiago Motta, the pundits agreed with the referee, with many blaming the Brazilian for his “reckless” and “naïve” play. Many critics did argue, however, that Barca’s Sergio Busquets “took a dive of Olympic proportions” (Gazzetta) to make the most of Motta’s relatively mild hand-off.

If Italian commentators agreed with referee De Bleeckere on the Motta incident, you can rest assured they agreed even more heartily with him when he whistled for a (debatable) handball by Barca’s Ivory Coast defender Yaya Toure in injury-time and just seconds before Barca substitute Bojan Krkic scored what would otherwise have been a goal to put Barca in the final.

Instead, it will be Inter who meet Bayern in that Madrid final.