- Oli Coulson
Preview: Everything you need to know, Predicted XI – Man City vs Inter in the Champions League Final
With the Premier League and the FA Cup secured, Manchester City have one more game left in their hunt for the Treble; their second-ever UEFA Champions League Final, taking on Edin Dzeko's Inter Milan. Kick off is at 8 pm (BST) at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Saturday, June 10, and the game is live on BT Sport in the United Kingdom.
Team News
Pep Guardiola called it "a dream" on the pre-match media day when speaking about contesting his second Champions League Final with City. And it is surely a dream that he has his entire team to pick from, too, with a 23-man squad landing in Istanbul on Thursday afternoon.
However, the City manager didn't get dragged into talking too much about revenge or City's loss in the 2021 final being a source of motivation either, saying:
"It's a different situation. Two years ago isn't long and of course we want to finish differently but we have to know exactly what we have to do."
However, when it comes to who will be in the team, it's difficult to imagine Guardiola straying from the system and gameplay that has worked this season, propelling them to the brink of a historic treble. Ederson is back between the posts over Stefan Ortega as Guardiola confirmed pre-FA Cup Final, but the other ten positions almost pick themselves.
The only doubt is over Kyle Walker, who didn't train earlier in the week due to a "disturbance in his back", but the right-back confirmed he was resting due to load management and "old age". The only decision for the Catalan to make is Manuel Akanji or Nathan Ake in the nominal left-back slot, but with Akanji having performed excellently in the FA Cup Final, I'd expect him to continue.
Predicted XI:
Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Akanji; Rodri, Gundogan; De Bruyne, Bernardo, Haaland, Grealish
Opposition
Inter Milan, or Internazionale to give them their full title arrive in Istanbul in great form. Having won nine of their last ten in all competitions, including the Coppa Italia final vs Fiorentina, Serie A's third placers are not to be underestimated.
Lining up in an aggressive 3-5-2 shape, Inter are a very structured, organised team, as you'd expect from any top Italian side, but they have ridiculous firepower with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez and ex-City striker Dzeko rotating up top. They scored 71 goals in Serie A this past season, the second most of anyone behind eventual winners Napoli, and they will undoubtedly ask questions of the City defence.
With technicians like Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu in midfield and the wide threat of Federico Dimarco and Denzel Dumfries, Inter pose a big threat to City, with Guardiola mindful in his press conference about them, commenting:
"They are used to dominating the games in Italy and they have a lot of good patterns so we have to defend really well... I can not deny the qualities of the opponent."
Predicted XI:
Onana; Acerbi, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Martinez, Lukaku
Head-to-Head
Manchester City have never faced Inter Milan in a competitive fixture; the 2023 Champions League Final will be the first meeting between the two sides.
Officials
Referee: Szymon Marciniak
Assistants: Pawel Sokolnicki & Tomasz Listkiewicz
Fourth Official: Istvan Kovacs
VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski
Assistant VAR: Bartosz Frankowski
Marciniak most recently refereed the Blues in their 4-0 home win over Real Madrid in the previous round of the Champions League.
Written by: @olimccoole
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