SIMONE INZAGHI WAS IN no mood to discuss his future in the hours after Inter's 5-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in Saturday's Champions League final. The emotions from such a painful defeat were too strong for the head coach to possibly give a clear-cut answer. But it certainly felt like the end. Inter hadn't just lost the biggest game of their season. They were completely outclassed from start to finish.

Inzaghi had turned the Nerazzurri into a defensive powerhouse in his four years at the helm. His veteran players stifled teams so that his younger players could feast on the counterattack. The balance was tough to strike, even if it looked easy, and as Inter played more and more games, losing more and more starters to injury, it became nearly impossible to maintain. Inter conceded 14 goals in their final five Champions League matches after allowing just two in their first 10.

Inzaghi rotated his squad the best he could. But he could only get so much from the likes of Davide Frattesi, Mehdi Taremi, Marko Arnautovic, Carlos Augusto, and Piotr Zielinski. Inter's squad was deeper than any other side in Serie A but not deep enough to handle the workload of a grueling 59-game campaign. The club didn't stock itself with enough quality bench options last summer to sustain a treble challenge. All it could do was hope for individual heroics down the stretch, and while Yann Sommer's saves and Frattesi's late goals provided the push they needed to extend their chances in the Champions League, they were bandaid solutions that lacked the staying power of the team game that underpinned Inter's earlier success. Because they weren't exactly winning games anymore. They were surviving.

Maybe the mistake was to try and win every one of those titles. Inzaghi famously corrected a reporter who asked him if he was going for a double, lifting three fingers to confirm the treble was his aim. The image came back to haunt Inzaghi as his team lost to AC Milan in the Coppa Italia semifinals, conceded the Serie A title to Napoli on the final day, and capitulated in the Champions League final in Munich.

They disintegrated like a soft tire in Formula 1 racing. The laps of the season chewed into Inter's early momentum and left them a marbly mess. They won just six of their last 15 matches and lost three in a row during that stretch. That hadn't happened to Inter in more than seven years.

The temptation to write off these last nine months is strong, as it always is when a team doesn't meet expectations and comes up empty-handed. Football is a results business, and it has increasingly become a black-and-white enterprise. You're either a winner or a loser. There's rarely ever any in-between. But it's hard to classify Inter's season as a categorial failure. They're going to pocket more than €130 million from this Champions League run and have been competitive while paring €261 million in losses over the last three fiscal years. And they created memories along the way. While the 7-6 semifinal aggregate victory over Barcelona may have come in vain, it roused the kind of emotions that fans will remember for a lifetime.

Through the disappointment, there's also opportunity. Inter have to be honest with themselves and admit their team needs a refresh. A number of Inzaghi's lieutenants looked real old in Munich. The game completely bypassed midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and defenders Francesco Acerbi and Benjamin Pavard couldn't keep up with PSG's pacy attackers. Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez were clearly banged up, and Inzaghi couldn't possibly start Taremi or Joaquin Correa in the final. Sommer was a spry 36-year-old goalkeeper last month. He looked every bit his age on Saturday as PSG repeatedly beat him at his near post.

If the goal is to compete on all fronts, the team needs at least six quality signings. Sporting director Giuseppe Marotta can't only rely on free transfers to fill the gaps. Inter are coming into serious money and in decent financial shape after recovering from a period of heavy losses. Now is the time to spend.

But before they do, Inter have to know who their coach is. Inzaghi has a substantial offer on the table from Al-Hilal, and he may feel the time is right to leave. If he stays, Inter can keep the gears in win-now mode and sign players who fit his 3-5-2 system. If he goes, management has a tougher decision on its hands. If it appoints a project manager like Cesc Fabregas or Roberto De Zerbi, it'll have to reset entirely and focus on recruiting younger players with potential. That would also require a step back in expectations and the fans to understand the team that entered each of the last few seasons with title-winning aspirations will need more time than before.

As embarrassing as it is to lose a Champions League final by the heaviest margin in tournament history, it's offered the club a chance to reflect and plan for the future. The only thing worse than losing a trophy is blowing such an obvious opportunity to build something even better.