Inter Milan have been left to lick their wounds after suffering defeat in the Europa League final.

The legendary Italian club are wading through one of the longest trophy droughts in their history and the clash with Sevilla on Friday night looked the perfect opportunity to return to form.

However, there was more heartbreak on the cards as Sevilla won their fourth Europa League title in six years, edging out a 3-2 thriller with Romelu Lukaku's own goal ultimately settling the tie.

Progress for Inter

But that isn't to say that Inter can't take plenty of positives from their progression this season, having finished just one point behind Juventus, who have won nine consecutive titles, in Serie A.

Besides, if they can keep Antonio Conte in the dugout, there's good reason to think I Nerazzurri have finally broken clear of nine years in the wilderness and will continue to kick on next season.

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Struggles since 2010

And in order to celebrate how far Inter have come during the 2019/20 campaign, we've decided to reflect on some of the tougher times that have befallen the club over their recent history.

To do so, we've sought to underline the historic chopping and changing at the San Siro by picking 19 players that you probably forgot ever played for Inter.

I promise we're not picking on Inter here, we completed the same exercise for AC Milan, but we're pretty sure only your resident footballing hipster will be able to remember all of these spells.

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19 forgotten players

So, without further ado, prepare to walk down a memory lane you've never walked down before and check some of these forgotten Inter alumni along the winding road to 2020 redemption:

1. Diego Forlán

A brief, one-season and two-goal stay at San Siro marked the beginning of the end for Forlan's time at the pinnacle of European football. 

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2. Edgar Davids

To be fair, Davids seemed to play for every top European club under the sun, but his time with the black and blue half of Milan is perhaps his most forgettable, spanning one season and making just 23 appearances.

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3. Dani Osvaldo

The rock-and-roll footballer himself had one last throw of the dice in Serie A when he moved to the San Siro on loan from Southampton, turning out 19 times and scoring seven goals. Not bad.

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4. Leonardo Bonucci

It's hard to forget Bonucci's doomed season with AC Milan, but fewer fans - younger ones, at least - are aware that the Juventus man's career actually started on the other side of the Derby della Madonnina battle-lines.

Then again, he did only make four first-team outings.

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5. Maniche

Maniche holds the unique distinction of being a forgotten player at both Chelsea and Inter Milan, sporting the jerseys of the two clubs out on loan and featuring in just eight leagues match on each occasion.

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6. Alex Telles

Capped for Portugal and an established figure at Porto with almost 200 appearances, it's easy to forget that Telles plied his trade on loan at the San Siro for 22 games from Galatasaray.

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7. Stevan Jovetic

Forgotten at Manchester City, forgotten at Inter Milan. The hype surrounding Jovetic was truly at its terminus by the time he made just five appearances and failed to score during his permanent spell in Milan.

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8. Joao Cancelo

Forgotten at Manchester City, forgotten at Inter Milan... wait, here we are again. 

Cancelo was teed up for the single season at Juventus that earned him a move to the Etihad Stadium with a one-year loan spell at Inter, appearing 28 times and scoring a free-kick in Serie A.

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9. Dennis Bergkamp

It's a good job that Arsenal didn't allow Bergkamp's lukewarm two-year spell at the San Siro to put them off making one of the greatest ever Premier League signings.

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10. Marko Arnautovic

That's right, before Arnautovic was bounding about Premier League mid-table clubs, the Austrian was making Jose Mourinho's eyes roll during a three-game loan spell in northern Italy.

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11. Fabio Grosso

Yes, Grosso did have a career outside making headlines at the 2006 World Cup, though spending a season with I Nerazzurri might be the most forgettable part of it.

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12. Xherdan Shaqiri

Between hoovering up trophies at Bayern Munich and surprisingly joining Stoke City, Shaqiri's career reached a crossroads when he flopped at Inter across a six-month partnership.

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13. Yann M’Vila

Remember when M'Vila was linked with Arsenal every 10 seconds at the start of the 2010s? Well, his shoulder-shrugging loan move to Inter suggests they were right to never part cash.

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14. Adrian Mutu

It was goal-rich collaborations with Verona and Parma which encouraged Chelsea to infamously sign the Romanian in 2003, not his lost-to-history time with Inter that reaped zero league goals.

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15. Nemanja Vidic

For whatever reason, the legendary Vidic saw his form plummet after Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement and his 28-game spell at the San Siro was forgettable to say the very least.

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16. Ricardo Quaresma

Quaresma's most notable achievement at Inter was being crowned the worst player in Italy's top flight and making just 32 appearances says a lot about Mourinho's opinion of him.

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17. Gabriel Batistuta

We can all remember Batistuta's legendary spell with Fiorentina and even his time at AS Roma that brought a Serie A title, but his 12-game loan to Inter? I bet it's slipped plenty of minds.

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18. Lukas Podolski

Before leaving on a permanent basis for Galatasary, Podolski tried to save his Arsenal career with a loan move to Inter and frankly, the fact he's on this list tells you everything you need to know about the result.

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19. Roberto Carlos

Ok, admittedly, Carlos is one of the most recalled players on this list, but only because of the infamous quote about Roy Hodgson telling him he'd never make it as a left-back.

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Go on, be honest, how many did you correctly remember?

As far as I'm concerned, though it might just be my terrible memory, Forlan and Podolski having played for Inter was a serious throwback and Bonucci was an unabashed shock to the system.

But if there's any point to take from all these forgotten players, it's that Inter are hopefully past the days of having a fluid first-team squad and perpetual revolving door in the transfer market. 

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Coming up short in the Europa League final was undoubtedly a blow, but at least the 2019/20 players have performed well enough to be remembered in a few years' time.