ROME — The build-up to Inter’s biggest game in 13 years has been dominated by one question: Edin Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku? Simone Inzaghi’s biggest call will be who he picks to start alongside Lautaro Martinez in Istanbul.
It’s a dilemma that might bring a smirk to the face of Manchester City fans, their sky-high confidence boosted further at the thought of facing either a 37-year-old they deemed surplus to requirements seven years ago or a player many will have last seen struggling at Chelsea or missing sitters at the World Cup.
But underestimate them at your peril. This pair of experienced goal-getters are a big part of the reason Inter have made it this far, and for both it could be their last dance in a black-and-blue shirt, with Lukaku’s loan ending soon and Dzeko’s contract up at the end of the month.
“I haven’t decided,” Inzaghi said this week when asked for the umpteenth time who he will pick. “I’m lucky to have this choice.”
Why the dilemma for Inzaghi? Because it’s either sticking with the man who got him here, Dzeko, or the man in form, Lukaku.
Dzeko has been a stalwart of Inter’s surge to their first Champions League final since winning the Treble in 2010, starting every knockout game and wrapping his long leg around Davide Calabria to volley home the opener against AC Milan in the derby semi-final.
He was Inzaghi’s go-to guy while Lukaku struggled. Pre-season hopes that the Belgian would resurrect the ‘LuLa’ partnership with Martinez that fired Inter to the 2020-21 title looked doomed to disappointment – until now.
After a season tormented by injury and poor form, Lukaku has finally hit his stride in the run-in; he came off the bench to score knockout goals against Porto and Benfica, and beautifully set up Lautaro’s second-leg winner against Milan.
Lukaku scored five goals in his final five Serie A games as Inter finished third, and the on-loan Chelsea man will be motivated to prove a point against the Premier League champions after his abject failure to live up to a £97.5m price tag last season in the English top-flight.
Not that it’s showing. The 30-year-old appears relaxed ahead of the biggest game of his club career.
“It’s a beautiful thing, playing probably the best team in the world. I just want to enjoy it, not having pressure, just enjoy the moment,” he told CNN.
While the two former Premier League players would love nothing more than to make their mark against City, they won’t be the only familiar faces to those following on from England.
Two players who used to line up on the opposite side of the Manchester divide for United – Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Matteo Darmian – are also likely to start, fitness permitting for the Armenian midfielder.
Beyond personal battles, much attention in Italy has been paid to the financial gulf that makes Inter such underdogs in Istanbul.
Sky Italia highlighted that Inter spent €295m (£252m) on their Champions League squad, compared to City splashing out €910m (£779m).
They also went through every Champions League final since Inter’s 2010 victory to work out how often the less valuable squad has won – finding only the last two winners, Chelsea (vs City in 2021) and Real Madrid (vs Liverpool in 2022).
Will it be three in a row? As Inter director Beppe Marotta said this week: “In football, the team that spends the most doesn’t always win”.
The economic reality hasn’t stopped Interisti from dreaming. Far from it. After all, this is a club with far richer European pedigree than City, with three European crowns to its name. Cue the fighting talk.
“For us the Champions League is a dream, for them it’s an obsession,” said wing-back and boyhood Inter fan Federico Dimarco.
“To the fans I say this – we will be spitting blood on the pitch”.
Inzaghi called it “the game of my life”, while Alessandro Bastoni laughed off the notion that City are a team to be feared: “Murderers and evil people are to be feared, not footballers”.
Then there’s Inzaghi’s reputation as a cup expert, which comes from a run of seven final wins in a row – albeit all coming in the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.
He’s not the only one – Martinez has won eight finals in his career, scoring four goals, and as recently as December the striker set up Lionel Messi’s extra-time goal in the World Cup final.
Inter, like Dzeko and Lukaku, are sure to be underestimated by plenty in England. But this team is revelling in its role as the underdog.
Inzaghi: ‘We have a plan to stop Haaland’
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer in Istanbul
Simone Inzaghi believes that his players must use their “legs, head and heart” to beat Manchester City, as Inter’s coach is under no illusions of the difficulty of the task facing his team in the Champions League final.
Speaking in Istanbul’s Ataturk Stadium on Friday afternoon, Inzaghi admitted that his players were facing the best team in the world in City, who are the clear favourites to win a first European Cup in their history.
But Inzaghi insists that the difficult moments of the season – Inter were 6th in Serie A but won their last seven matches to finish 3rd – mean there is a belief within the squad that they can cause a shock.
Inter were not in the top ten favourites for the Champions League after the group stage draw, placing them alongside Bayern Munich and Barcelona. And yet, thanks to a favourable path in the knockout stages and a run of eight clean sheets in 12 European matches, Inzaghi can match Jose Mourinho’s achievement when he won the competition with Inter in 2010.
“We know the type of game we need to play,” Inzaghi said. “We know Manchester City are currently the best team in the world. We know our path; we’re proud to be here, and we’ll do everything we can to be focused and keep the mistakes to a minimum.
“It’s the 57th game of our season, and the previous 56 enabled us to be here – the difficult moments made us grow. We deserved to lose some games, we deserved to win other matches. We put in a crazy effort, and that effort took us to Istanbul.
“We’re not relaxed: we’re fully focused, we’ll fight bit by bit against a truly strong side. The midfield will be very important, but not just that; we’ll need ‘legs, head and heart’. Making that extra run, staying bright, and with the heart, you can find extra energy.”
Inzaghi was asked about the obvious threat of Erling Haaland, who has scored 35 goals in only 29 Champions League appearances. He stressed that shackling Manchester City’s superstar forward was a team effort but revealed that Inter have a plan to stop him.
“We know how strong Haaland is,” Inzaghi said. “We’ve prepared something to keep him quiet, though the entirety of Inter will need to be good in limiting him and the whole team. They defend well, they attack well. We will try to play our football and the right game.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/dqNOUa9
Post a Comment