The Clash Of The Titans: Man City And Inter Milan Lock Horns In UEFA Champions League Final Today5 min read

Manchester City and Inter Milan will lock horns in the final of the 2022/2023 Champions League on Saturday night.

The grand finale of this season’s Champions League will take place inside the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey.

Saturday’s final will represent the first time City and Inter will clash at the zenith of European footbal with the two sides only meeting in two friendly matches in 2010 and 2011.

While Man City have been tipped as the favourites to be crowned Champions League winners after winning the Premier League and the FA Cup titles, Inter Milan have embodied the dark horse tag from the start of the campaign. Well-aware they are going into the final as underdogs, Inter Milan can certainly hunt Man City. Here are the reasons;

Inter are former Champions League winners
Inter Milan will head into the Champions League final against City as three-time winners, this means they have experience in the competition.

This will be their sixth appearance in the final of Europe’s elite club competition compared to City’s two.

The Nerazzurri first played in the final in 1964 (when it was known as European Cup) and defeated Real Madrid 3-1 to land their first title.

They defended the title in 1965 after beating Benfica 1-0 and had to wait until 2010 before winning their third title following a 2-0 win against Bayern Munich.

However, they were runners-up in 1967, when they lost 2-1 to Celtic and in 1972 they lost 2-0 to Ajax.

So, Inter Milan will not be roll-overs for Man City as they will be up against a team with history in the competition.

Treble pressure on Man City
Man City’s desire to win the treble after clinching the Premier League title and FA Cup is one strong reason they will be on an intensed pressure when they face Inter in Saturday’s Champions League final.

If there is one thing City will dread ahead of the Champions League final, it is the favourites tag.

Going into a Champions League as favourites is never easy especially when it is against an experience side like Inter.

Despite their scintillating performance throughout the season, it would not be out of place to state that City have everything to lose.

Couple with the fact that City have one of the most expensive squad and boast of one of the most successful coaches in Europe, pressure will surely be on them to become Champions League winners for the first time.

Also, the thought of their loss in the final of 2021 against a Chelsea side, labelled underdogs but who went on to win, will be at the back of the minds of the City players and coaching crew.

Inter Milan out to salvage Italian pride
Three Italians teams made it to the final of UEFA’s competitions this season. Inter progressed to the Champions League final, AS Roma and Fiorentina featured in the Europa League and Europa Conference League finals.

Unfortunately, Roma lost on penalties to Sevilla in the Europa League final and Fiorentina fell 2-1 to West Ham in the Conference.

Inter will see this final beyond theirs but an opportunity to salvage the Italian pride that has been ruffled in European football this season.

Pep Guardiola’s Italian nightmare
Whether as a player or a coach, some of Pep Guardiola’s devastating defeats have been against Italian teams and in the hands of Italian coaches.

In the final of the 1994 Champions League final against AC Milan, Guardiola was part of a first star-studded Barcelona side that had the likes of Romario, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman, Andoni Zubizarreta and Miguel Angel Nadal.

But after 90 minutes, Barcelona who went into the final as favourites were hammered 4-0 by Milan.

In the semi-final of the 2010 Champions League, Guardiola’s Barcelona side faced Inter under Jose Mourinho.

Inter ended Barcelona’s reign as Champions League holders with a 3-2 aggregate win.

The 2012 Champions League semi-final saw Guardiola’s Barcelona side clash with Chelsea under their former player Roberto Di Matteo.

Di Matteo master-minded one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Champions League as Chelsea beat Barca 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg, before playing 2-2 at Nou Camp in the second leg despite having John Terry sent off.

After the exit of Juup Heynckes at Bayern Munich, Guardiola took charge and guided them to the Champions League semi-final in 2014.

Bayern faced Real Madrid handled by Italian tactician Carlo Ancelotti and lost 1-0 in Spain before suffering a humiliating 4-0 defeat in Germany.

Just last season, Guardiola came up against Ancelotti in the semi-finals but fell short again as City lost to Madrid.

City went into the second leg with a 2-1 advantage and went 1-0 ahead in the second leg at the Bernabeu.

But two late goals by Madrid sent the game into extra-time, with the Spanish giants getting the third which was enough to send them into the final.

Simone Inzaghi’s impressive record in Cup finals
It may be his first Champions League final, but Inter’s coach Simone Inzaghi is not called King of Cups for nothing.

Few in European football can boast a better record in these scenarios than the Inter Milan manager who has won all seven of his cup finals with Lazio and Inter – and most of them saw his side go into the game as underdogs.

Though, Guardiola can also boast of an impressive record in Cup finals but against Inzaghi, he will have to be at his best to land Man City their first-ever Champions League title.