Simone Inzaghi has admitted that Internazionale will be the underdogs in the Champions League final next month, but he insisted his team should not be written off against Manchester City or Real Madrid in Istanbul.
Inter secured their first final place in 13 years with a 3-0 aggregate victory against their city rivals Milan on Tuesday night, but many observers – including the former Inter defender Christian Panucci – have described City v Real as “the real final”.
“They are two huge clubs with immense quality,” Inzaghi conceded. “It’s a very open match. I believe that Inter and Milan did a great semi-final, two hard-fought intense games. Maybe against Real Madrid and Manchester City, Inter are the underdogs.
“But anything can happen in football. We met Real Madrid last year, two losses unfortunately, but my team played very well. Manchester City need no introduction. I will watch tomorrow’s match, and we will see who wins.”
Inter’s win – 1-0 on the night – capped a remarkable Champions League campaign for the Nerazzurri, who were rated as 50-1 outsiders to win the tournament after a daunting group-stage draw that pitted them against Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
“It’s a dream come true, a dream that we’ve shared and grown together since the draw, because we had to believe, nobody gave us anything,” Inzaghi said.
“Tomorrow we’ll realise what we’ve achieved, but this was a magic night with our fans and our families. We couldn’t ask for more.”
The Milan coach Stefano Pioli defended his club’s youth-oriented recruitment strategy after a tie that exposed their lack of experience. “This is the club policy, and it’s giving us great results,” he said.
“Inter in these two matches hurt us with counter-attacks and set pieces. These are situations we had to do better with. In these games you have to play to great levels, or you go out.”
