The Japan Times - Cristian Chivu, a winner with Inter on the pitch and in the dugout

Eyebrows were raised when 45-year-old Chivu was hired by Inter last summer as his only previous top-level experience had been a handful of matches in charge of Parma, who the former Romania defender kept in Serie A after he was hired in February last year.

Despite being a popular ex-player for the club, at that point Chivu's only previous experience coaching at Inter had been in the club's youth set-up, and he had left that position months before.

So it was no surprise when Como's Cesc Fabregas became the top name to replace the departing Simone Inzaghi.

Como's refusal to release Fabregas led to Chivu's arrival and he has, in Serie A at least, performed way above expectations as few observers would have predicted such a confident charge to the Scudetto.

When Chivu took charge Inter were still reeling from a fearful 5-0 hammering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in last season's Champions League final, which was complicated by pre-match rumours of Inzaghi leaving for Saudi Arabia.

Napoli and AC Milan both strengthened last summer while Inter's first choice XI was nearly unchanged from last season, when they ran out of gas in the final weeks of the campaign.

So this season's triumph is huge deal for a man who was already a bona fide Inter legend thanks to his role in the 2010 Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble won under Jose Mourinho.

Chivu played 168 times over six seasons at Inter, where he won the Serie A title three years in a row and in 2010 also won the Club World Cup.

He played the majority of his career in Italy and moved to Inter in 2007 from Roma, where he lifted the Italian Cup in his final season as part of a swashbuckling team inspired by Francesco Totti and coached by Luciano Spalletti.

Chivu was brought to Roma four years before by Fabio Cappello, and he was visibly moved in October when his former coach hailed the work he has done to shake up what had looked like a team which was dead on its feet.

"All I can hope for is to have half the career you had, because I would like to be as much as a winner as you were," said Chivu.

"You were the one who trusted me, accepted me and allowed me to play at the highest level."

Inter also appear to trust Chivu, with a contract extension set to be agreed this summer, and a squad rebuild is about to be carried out to further rejuvenate a team which has changed little from his predecessor Simone Inzaghi's tenure.

Inzaghi re-established Inter as a force in Europe, taking them to two Champions League finals and providing fans with some of their most memorable moments of this century.

The next step for Chivu is to show that he can do it in the big matches against top opposition, something his team have failed to do this season, both at home and abroad.

That failure ended up costing Inter direct qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League and led to a humiliating exit in the play-offs at the hands of Norway's Bodo/Glimt.

And Chivu will be judged on how he deals with the Champions League and big games against domestic rivals, especially resurgent Juve who look set to challenge for next year's Scudetto.

H.Nakamura--JT