Manchester City won the FA Cup on Saturday, and full focus is now on this weekend’s huge Champions League final with Inter.
City are two for two in their hunt for the Treble so far, having sealed the Premier League with relative ease by mid-May, before Saturday’s FA Cup triumph at Wembley.
Ilkay Gundogan was the hero at at the weekend, scoring two goals either side of a Bruno Fernandes penalty.
City celebrated that win, but preparations are now underway ahead of Saturday.
City have never met Inter in a competitive match before.
Pep Guardiola’s side are the heavy favourites to win in Istanbul. But the Nerazzurri are in the final for a reason.
They’re a good side, and are fairly free-scoring. They finished Serie A this season as the second-highest scorers behind champions Napoli.
They scored 71 goals in their 38 games.
And Lautaro Martinez helped himself to 21 of those, to become the division’s second highest goalscorer behind Napoli’s Victory Osimhen.
Martinez had a poor World Cup with Argentina, and was eventually ousted from the starting XI by City’s Julian Alvarez.
But for Inter this season he’s been great, and Inzaghi named him as the player who could really hurt City on Saturday.
He said (quoted by Football Italia): “Both teams will have their best players who will have to make the difference, Lautaro is one of those for Inter.”
Manchester City defenders must beware Lautaro Martinez for Inter in Champions League final
Inter have several threats.
Obviously City old boy Edin Dzeko will need dealing with if he starts. Ditto Romelu Lukaku, who can be a handful.
But Lautaro is the big danger man for Inter.
He really has had a great season, and the World Cup has probably skewed some people’s view of him.
He is a nippy, technical striker who must be respected by City’s defenders.
But fans will have full faith in the likes of Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji to deal with him.
It will be fascinating to see how he gets on, and how the game pans out. Hopefully City can do the business, just as Kylian Mbappe predicts they will.
