Many of the Internazionale players still feel it. It is not the pride at returning to a Champions League, even after the spirit of that semi-final against Barcelona. It is really the pain from their last appearance at this stage in 2023. The Inter Milan players still remember the dejection on that Istanbul pitch.
Given that Manchester City won a treble that season, their 1-0 win has been cast as an inevitability, a translation of infinitely superior state resources into triumph. Inter have never felt that way. They thought they should have won, and were only a misfiring Romelu Lukaku away from glory.
