Inter Milan may not be a favorites for the final of the Champions League, but their exciting run to Saturday's confrontation with Paris Saint-Germain has shown that the aging Italian outfit can combine it with the best.
The Simone Inzaghi team goes to Munich with a legitimate shot to go better two years ago than in Istanbul, when a very similar line-up was closely defeated by Manchester City.
Inzaghi thought that the final of 2023 was a missed opportunity after matching the Mega-Rich City, whose budget that of Inter Dwarf, a member of Europe's Old Guard who fights to keep the super clubs of the continent.
Qatari ownership PSG offers Inter the opportunity to expel the spirit of Istanbul and at the same time end a fascinating season with the most prestigious piece of silverware in club football after missing domestic awards.
“The club and especially the players all know that we are missing that last step to write history,” Inzaghi told reporters on Monday.
“It is clear that you are already helping the latter, but we also know that on the other hand there are players who won the World Cup and played in another final, as well as a coach who has already won the Champions League.”
Inter has already come through exciting tires against Bayern Munich and Barcelona, ​​two of the pre-season favorites to win the Champions League.
And their incredible semi-final with Barca showed that they can go toe-tot-toe with a high-wearing, youthful side, even though a team is stacked with players who are quickly on their way to the end of their career.
The average age of Inter's Preferred Start XI is just over 30, while important players such as goalkeeper Yann Sommer, two -time survivor of cancer Francesco Acerbi and midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan are 36, 37 and 36 years old respectively.
In the meantime, the oldest player in the PSG team is now Marquinhos, at 31 a relative young person compared to fellow center defender Acerbi.
Old heads, tired legs
A draining season in which Inter moisture for the Serie A title until the last day has had a clear impact on an old team, with the Barca Tie the clear highlight of a difficult last few weeks of the campaign.
Inter seemed able to win the Treble after eliminating Bayern in the quarterfinals last month, with a handy three-point lead over Scudetto-rivals Napoli and an Italian cup semi-final against sick AC Milan.
But the wind was knocked out of their sails by three straight defeats in the space of a week that Napoli gave the initiative in the Serie A and ended their domestic cup run, so that the Champions League remained their only remaining option for a trophy.
“There was a lot of suffering among the players, it would be useless to deny it,” said Inzaghi to lose the Serie A title.
“The boys have been brilliant this season because we played 59 games and we gave everything on the field. We have given nothing priorities, we just tried to give everything we had.”
Inzaghi has brought Inter to new heights since the final of the 2023 final, even after a series of BIG-Note departure and a enforced acquisition of the club by the American investment company Oaktree this time last year after previous owners Suning were in default of around 395 million euros ($ 449 million).
In contrast to PSG, which can splash more than 70 million euros to bring in the most exciting player of Serie A in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Inter had to scrape the bargain bin to remain competitive.
Sommer, who arrived for less than seven million euros in 2023, is one of only three players – in addition to French men Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard – in Inter's first choice for Saturday not to be in the club two years ago.
“We have shown courage in every match of our Champions League campaign, and that is why we are in the final,” said Sommer on Monday.
“We have many players who played in the final two years ago and that experience is important for us as a team.”