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Charlie Appleby and William Buick team up to win the prestigious English Classic for the second time in three years following Coroebus in 2022
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Chance for Benitez to do it with Inter
ABU DHABI - Having missed out in 2005 with Premiership club Liverpool, Rafael Benitez gets another shot at it with Italian giants Inter Milan.
Inter Milan take on surprise finalists TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Zayed Sports City on Saturday and a victory there would go some way in redeeming Benitez’s reputation in what has been an average season for the Nerazzurri after he took charge from Jose Mourinho.
Benitez has been on this very stage before with Liverpool but the English club went on to lose by a solitary goal to Brazil’s Sao Paulo, who went on to wrap their third crown. “Having reached the final, it is important now to go on a win it. We deserve to be here. I lost before with Liverpool. We want to play a great final and win,” Benitez said on the eve of the game on Friday.
Benitez said that it would be a great challenge for them to take on a team which is making its maiden appearance in the final of the club competition.
“It is an honour for us to be in the final and take on an African team for the first time. It is a challenge for us. It is important for the continent. It will be a part of our club’s history. Mazembe deserve to be in the final. They played really well to get to the final,” said the 50-year-old Spaniard.
About TP Mazembe, Benitez said: “We are playing very well. We have trained well too. We have seen their videos and studied them. We are prepared for the game. Obviously, there is a bit of nervousness. It is a different team and it is a difficult team. It is the first time that we will be playing an African team. This is a top level competition and we will put in our best effort and do what we can.
“We watched their games. We also watched the African Champions League. They are physically strong. They have three players who could make a difference. Clearly, it will be a top game on on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, his opposite number Lamine N’Diaye said that it was time that the world took them seriously. TP Mazembe, who won hearts but not games in their maiden appearance in the Club competition last year, have done both this time. They beat Mexico’s Club de Futbol Pachuca in the quarterfinal before stunning Brazilian heavyweights and former champions SC Internacional in the semifinal.
“It is time to believe in the seriousness of African football. We have intellect and brain and we need to be taken seriously. We have the ability,” N’Diaye said. “We represent Africa and all of Africa are proud of us, We are confident and we never doubted ourselves,” he said.Meanwhile, SC Internacional will lock horns with Korean club Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma FC in the play-off for the third place at the same venue on Saturday night.
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