The Italian Super Cup is about to kick off, and both Chinese and foreign media are buzzing about the concept of the "King of Cups." Little Inzaghi is a master of cup competitions, which goes without saying. However, it's important to emphasize that within Inter Milan's ranks, there are not just one but many players who can be called "cup masters," and we can take a look at them.
For example, Takeyama. During his five years in the Portuguese league, Takeyama only won one league championship trophy, but he has accumulated six trophies from the Portuguese Cup, Portuguese League Cup, and Portuguese Super Cup.
Another example is Lautaro, who has won five cup championships with his club and three with the national team.
Then there's Damian, who never won a league championship before joining Inter Milan, but he did have FA Cup and League Cup trophies to his name.
One of the representative figures is Mkhitaryan, who attended the pre-match press conference with Little Inzaghi.
Since 2013, Mkhitaryan has been playing in the top five leagues, but it wasn't until the summer of 2024 that he won his first league championship trophy in the top five leagues. It was Inter Milan that helped him make up for the shortcomings in his career.
However, Mkhitaryan's personal trophy room shines brightly because he has won so many cup championships.
In 2014, Mkhitaryan shone in the German Super Cup, scoring a goal to lead Dortmund to a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich and win the trophy. This was his first trophy with a top-five league team.
During his time at Manchester United, Mkhitaryan won the League Cup, Community Shield, and Europa League.
During his time at Roma, he won the Europa Conference League.
After transferring to Inter Milan, he also won one Coppa Italia and two Italian Super Cups, not to mention the league championship trophy that raised the ceiling of his career.
This Italian Super Cup is also quite meaningful for Mkhitaryan personally: after 12 years of playing for top-five league teams, he has already won nine trophies and is now going for his tenth.
It's no wonder that when Little Inzaghi brought Mkhitaryan to the press conference, Italian and Middle Eastern journalists all said: it's fitting for these two figures with a "halo of cups" to attend such an occasion.
Mkhitaryan has won so many cup championship trophies and played in too many fiery cup finals. He used this experience at the pre-match press conference.
Before the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup, journalists threw out three "difficult to answer" questions to ask Mkhitaryan, and he gave very high-level answers, winning applause from everyone.
Firstly, a journalist asked him, "If you close your eyes, what do you dream of winning in 2025?" Mkhitaryan replied, "Everything is possible, there's no need to close your eyes!"
We can't speculate on why the journalist insisted on "closing your eyes," but Mkhitaryan's answer, full of style, is simply amazing.
Secondly, the current AC Milan coaching change drama has exploded in Italy, and journalists took the opportunity of "AC Milan is also one of the participants in the Italian Super Cup" to ask Mkhitaryan to talk about Conceicao. The Armenian replied, "I want to talk about Inter Milan, not AC Milan. We must first win the semi-finals and then see if we have the chance to face them in the final. Before that, talking about AC Milan is inappropriate."
It's easy to get into trouble when commenting on matters involving other teams. Mkhitaryan gave a textbook answer.
Thirdly, at present, the Italian media is hyping up Fratesi's transfer, claiming that Inter Milan plans to sell Taisi at the end of the season for a transfer fee of 30-35 million. Journalists also asked Mkhitaryan to comment on this issue, and the Armenian replied, "Fratesi is a great player and teammate. I will tell him to continue working hard. He has the ability to play for Inter Milan, and we have seen this in training and matches. Even if the coach makes a decision (on who to field), he will still have opportunities."
At the press conference, Mkhitaryan answered the questions with high-level answers. If you didn't know better, you might think he's not a player but a spokesperson!
This is partly because Mkhitaryan is indeed a language master (fluent in eight languages: mother tongue, French, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Italian, German), a "linguist who was delayed by football." Middle Eastern media are looking forward to him learning a ninth language next season: Arabic. On the condition that he joins the Saudi league.
On the other hand, it's also because in his career, Mkhitaryan has played in too many cup games like this, so he naturally has plenty of experience dealing with various issues.
Let's see how this "cup master" will use his rich experience to shine on the field this time!