Roberto Mancini could not help feeling a little burst of pride as he watched Inter Milan reach their first European Cup final since 1972.
After landing a hat-trick of Serie A titles, Mancini was ditched at the start of last season after failing to add a Champions League trophy to the honours board.
It took replacement Jose Mourinho one failed attempt to find the solution and last night in the Nou Camp, Inter finally got within touching distance of their Holy Grail, managing to resist Barcelona long enough to book a May 22 meeting with Bayern Munich in Madrid.
Mancini could have been excused a sense of regret given his association with Inter.
But there was no obvious resentment from the current Manchester City manager, just an acknowledgement of a job well done.
"I am happy for the club and (president) Massimo Moratti and for the players," he said.
"I worked there for four years and I started with this team.
"I am very happy for them because to beat Barcelona is not easy, especially when you are down to 10 men for such a long time."
Mancini believes the imbalance between the teams disproves the notion that Mourinho adopted stereotypically defensive Italian tactics to stifle Barcelona.
The City chief pointed out Inter did not start with an Italian last night, and questioned what anyone else could have done against such strong opposition.
"For the last five or six years Inter have only had two or three Italian players," he observed.
"In any case, if you only have 10 men against Barcelona at the Nou Camp all you can do is defend. That is the only tactic you can use. Anything else doesn't exist."
