Toldo backs Inter Milan to rise again
Francesco Toldo was a part of the last Inter Milan side that won the Italian Serie A title, in 2010.
That was a year to remember for the Nerazzurri, who pulled off the treble by also winning the Italian Cup and Champions League, under manager Jose Mourinho.
Toldo, a squad player by then, soon called time on his illustrious career.
Since that season, Inter have struggled to attain the same level of success.
Their last piece of major silverware was the Italian Cup in the 2010/11 season, when they also finished runners-up in the Serie A.
In the six seasons that have followed, Inter have never finished in the top three in the Serie A. They are currently fifth, 16 points adrift of leaders Juventus.
Toldo, however, is confident that Inter will return to the upper echelons of European football soon.
Speaking at the announcement of the International Champions Cup tournament yesterday, the 45-year-old former goalkeeper said: "Inter are catching up.
"What happened is after the club's 2010 Champions League win, we got too drunk celebrating the victory, so we took a little bit of time to build the team again from scratch.
"Inter have already started planning for the future (and) as soon as the foreign investors (Suning Holdings Group from China in June 2016) came in, we saw a different strategy.
"My expectation is, in the next couple of years, Inter will be back to be a leading team in the Champions League."
Toldo, who rose to prominence when he saved four penalties to send Italy to the final of the Euro 2000 tournament, also backed Gianluigi Donnarumma, the 18-year-old goalkeeper of Inter's rivals AC Milan, to have a bright future.
"My take is Donnarumma has the potential to become a great goalkeeper," he said, in response to TNP's question.
"He has already shown he is a great talent. Of course he has a few things he has to improve on, but given the fact he is so young, I believe he will succeed in becoming a fantastic goalkeeper in time.
"Moreover, he is a very humble guy, and comes from a good family. He has been able to take the pressure so far, the real goal is not to get there but to manage the pressure throughout his career."
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