Paul Merson has now given his official prediction ahead of the much-awaited Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan.
The popular pundit told Sky Sports how he expects the game to pan out, with Pep Guardiola’s side now being on the verge of winning the treble.
While the general consensus is that Manchester City will easily get the job done against Inter Milan, Paul Merson is known to surprise when it comes to each and every prediction of his.
Paul Merson makes Manchester City vs Inter Milan prediction
The Premier League champions are certainly expected to find it a challenge to defeat Simone Inzaghi’s side, who are known to be a top cup team.
Interestingly, even Rio Ferdinand put his allegiance to Manchester United aside by backing the Sky Blues to beat the Serie A giants by two goals on Saturday.
While Paul Merson expects Inter Milan to push Manchester City, he expects the favourites to get over the line in Istanbul.
“I always thought this was a harder game than the Man United game. Inter have got forwards in Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku who can hurt you, I didn’t see that with United’s front three – bar Marcus Rashford. That was the problem.”
“This is a tough game, and they will be nervous. If both teams play to the best of their ability, Man City win. But they’re humans, and even though they’re great we’ve seen off days with City. Not many, but a few.”
Far from unfamiliar territory for Manchester City
A key factor why Paul Merson and other pundits are right to back Manchester City to beat Inter Milan is not just the disparity in terms of the managers as the well as both respective squads and playing styles.
It is due to the fact that City have a habit of facing teams that set up in low blocks and target them on the break.
Manchester United play in a similar manner as well but Pep Guardiola’s current setup has ensured that they defend transitions a lot better than in the past, whilst going forward, Erling Haaland is the perfect weapon up against settled defences.
As a result, while the Champions League final remains its own unique challenge just due to the occasion itself, the opposition’s threat itself should be familiar in some senses to Manchester City.
