Comments, odds and predictions for Man City vs Inter Milan, Champions League final, 2:00 a.m. Sunday, June 11. The blue half of Manchester is closer than ever to the first Elephant Ear Cup, but Simeone Inzaghi is also showing his charm in this prestigious arena.
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| Man City vs Inter: Man City has a great chance; Inter returns to the final after 13 years. (Source: Man City) |
Coach Pep's team is considered the strongest in the world and of course they are rated much higher by experts in this competition. However, with the nature of the biggest final at the club level, anything can happen. Inter Milan has also prepared very carefully for the weekend night.
Man City and the great opportunity to make a great milestone
Founded very early, in 1880, and despite winning the English championship twice in the 20th century, for most of its history, Man City has been a rather obscure name on the European football map.
Everything only really changed when they were taken over by Arab owners since 2008. With abundant financial investment and suitable strategies, Man City gradually became a force in English football and soon won titles after a few years.
In the summer of 2016, the Etihad team made the most successful signing in their history. That was bringing in coach Pep Guardiola.
The former Barcelona coach has transformed Man City into one of the most beautiful and effective attacking teams in the world.
Pep has dominated the Premier League with 5 championships in the last 6 seasons. However, he has never brought Man City to the top of Europe.
But this season is considered the time when the blue team is the strongest ever. They sprinted spectacularly to win the Champions League 3 rounds early.
Last weekend, they beat MU to win the FA Cup convincingly, conceding just one goal in the entire tournament.
Now it's time for Man City to head to the Champions League final to win the great treble, something that only MU has ever done in England in 1999.
To get to where they are today, Man City fans have not forgotten the pain they had to go through in this arena. Those were the times they had somewhat regrettable defeats against Tottenham in 2019, Lyon in 2020, Chelsea in 2021 and Real Madrid last year.
But this year their fans are more confident than ever as their favorite team has grown significantly in both expertise and courage in this playground.
In the Knock-out rounds, Man City faced a difficult draw when they had to face the most formidable teams in Champions League history, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
But Kevin De Bruyne and his teammates easily overcame their opponents, leaving the entire football world in awe. The aggregate scores were 4-1 and 5-1 respectively.
The players are increasingly mature and confident in top continental matches. As for coach Pep, after many years of creativity, perhaps he has found the most perfect formula for Man City with the 3-2-4-1 formation.
This arrangement allows up to 4 attacking midfielders to support striker Erling Haaland, instead of the usual 3. And this can happen conveniently thanks to the current top duo of full-backs, John Stones and Rodri.
Currently, Man City's pillars are all healthy and ready to play. Now many people just hope that Pep will stop thinking too much and use what has helped him reach this final.
Just like that, Man City's ability to win the championship is very high, because Inter is considered not to be equal to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
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| Inter's expected striker duo. (Source: Super Sport) |
Inter Milan and what to expect
If you look at the overall Serie A season of the black and blue team, they are not impressive as they only finished third and also conceded 42 goals.
In the Champions League, Inter was also somewhat lucky to fall into the easier bracket, meeting opponents of equal strength.
Man City is the biggest challenge at the moment, but remember, the final is only one match, there is no second leg to correct mistakes. Therefore, if there are reasonable calculations, good opportunities and knowing yourself and your opponent, Inter can still make a difference.
Inter have been in great form towards the end of the season. Since May, Inter have won 7 out of 8 games and kept 5 clean sheets.
The defense is a solid support for them. In the two semi-final matches against AC Milan, coach Simone Inzaghi's team won largely thanks to blocking the opponent's attacks well and not conceding any goals.
Another thing they need to note is that Man City's strength when away from Etihad is often reduced. Coach Pep does not create as much dominance as when playing at home. The proof is that they only drew with Munich and Real Madrid away.
Most recently, in the FA Cup final at Wembley, although they still controlled the ball a lot, their ability to create dangerous opportunities was not as high as usual, Man City's expected goals (xG) was only 1.1 compared to MU's 1.9 (according to Opta statistics).
Inter are capable of setting up a defence that is on par or even better than MU. And up front, they need to be sharper than Erik Ten Hag's team.
Inter fans can put their faith in the duo of Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko. The Argentine striker has a total of 28 goals, the best achievement in his five seasons in the black and blue shirt.
Edin Dzeko, despite being 37 years old, has still scored 14 goals, including 4 in the Champions League. His experience and standard ball handling skills make him more trusted than striker Lukaku.
Another thing that coach Inzaghi needs to pay attention to is to limit the shots from the second line of Man City, a favorite of the English team recently. That is how Ilkay Gundogan defeated MU, or Kevin De Bruyne defeated goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Will Pep become "immortal" at Man City?
The Spanish tactician can be proud of having created a strong team, considered separate from the rest of the football world. Therefore, the balance of power is tilted towards them in this final battle.
The Champions League trophy is the only missing piece in the collection of coach Pep and Man City.
If they can do it, Man City of the 2022/2023 season will become one of the greatest teams in the history of world football.
As for Inter, they had a tenacious campaign and knew their enemy well to reach the final after 13 years. Although they were considered weaker, if they promote their qualities well and keep their faith, they can still make a surprise.
Remember, the last overthrow of a much weaker team in the Champions League was Chelsea in 2012. The coach at that time was Roberto Di Mateo, also an Italian like Simone Inzaghi.
Before that, Liverpool made an incredible comeback when they defeated AC Milan in 2005. Coincidentally, this year's final will also take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
Will the call of history repeat itself, or will the new football power of the present take the throne?
Let's wait and see.
Expected lineup Man City (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Walker, Ruben Dias, Akanji; Rodri, Stones; Grealish, Gundogan, KDB, Silva; Haaland. Inter (3-5-2): Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; L. Martinez, Dzeko Forecast: Man City 2 - 1 Inter Milan |
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