As both teams attempt to follow up their victories in their respective domestic cups with the biggest trophy in European club football, the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul is the ideal setting for the first-ever competitive match between Manchester City and Inter Milan. While Inter, who accomplished that feat in 2010, seeks to win this competition for a record-tying fourth time, City, the Premier League champions, are also vying for a treble.
The Cityzens, who have never won the UCL, are considerably more recent visitors to the final as they are here for the second time in three seasons and are hoping to avenge their 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the 2020–21 season.
Their lone loss in a competitive game since early February (W21, D5) came against Brentford on the last day of the league season, when the title had already been decided.
There are three UCL knockout wins over RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid included in that run, although the away matches haven’t been quite as prolific in terms of goals scored. They haven’t always needed to be, but even so, they drew each of their three knockout games in the away leg at 1-1, and strangely, they’ve drawn their previous five UCL games away from home, suggesting that this match may go the distance.
For the first time since winning the competition in 2011 with Barcelona, a team he also helped earn a treble with two years prior, Guardiola is pursuing success in Europe.
His City team appears even more fearsome on paper than Barcelona’s team did in 2008–09, which lost just once en route to the final but scored 32 goals and allowed 13 goals, compared to City’s 31 goals and five goals allowed through one game.
That may provide some encouragement for Inter, who defeated Benfica and AC Milan in their quarterfinal and semifinal away legs, respectively, and who have only dropped one UCL match all season abroad (W2, D2). However, losing three of their last five games against English opposition (W2), including at home to Liverpool last season as they were eliminated at the first knockout stage, is cause for concern.
But Inter’s defense, which has preserved five clean sheets over their last six UCL games (W4, D2), may be able to contain an unstoppable Man City. Despite knowing it will be difficult, manager Simone Inzaghi is upbeat, saying, “The beauty of football is that the favorites don’t always win.” Making sure crucial times work in our favor will require skill from us.
Erling Haaland of Man City has scored 12 goals in ten UCL games this season, scoring first in three of his previous four European goal-scoring appearances. Romelu Lukaku scored all three of Inter’s UCL goals this season after the 80th minute, while four of his previous six goals in competition came after the 70-minute mark. He has made 18 appearances (W3, D3, L12) and scored five goals versus the city in his career.
Between the 40th and 60th minutes, the last three UCL finals were all decided by a single goal.
They are the only fourth team to reach the final after losing their opening game since the Champions League era began in 1992–1993, joining Tottenham in 2018–19, Bayern Munich in 1998–99, and AC Milan in 1994–1955, all of which lost their respective finals.
