Man City vs Inter Milan: Champions League final preview, team news, prediction

Manchester City face their date with destiny as they take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul on Saturday night knowing victory would seal an historic treble.

Pep Guardiola’s men secured their fifth Premier League title in the last six years with another formidable display in the English top-flight this season. At one stage, it looked like City might relinquish their crown as they trailed Arsenal for much of the campaign. The Gunners held a healthy lead for several months but cracked under the pressure as Man City hit top form during the business end of the season.

A stunning 10-game winning run saw City cut away at Arsenal’s lead and the Cityzens put the title in their own hands with a dominant 4-1 victory over the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium back in April. Arsenal slipped-up several times and City took full advantage to clinch the title with two games to spare.

That allowed Guardiola to rest his key men for their final two Premier League games, and City ended the season by taking just one point from their away games at Brighton and Brentford. However, they still won the title by five points and secured a domestic double with victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final last weekend. Ilkay Gundogan was the hero once again with a brace either side of a Bruno Fernandes penalty to seal the trophy at Wembley Stadium.

However, the focus is now firmly on their final game of another memorable season, as Man City prepare to face Inter Milan in the Champions League final. Victory would not only secure their first ever European Cup, but it would also clinch the treble and ensure this City team go down in history as one of the best ever.  Guardiola has been an undoubted success at the Etihad Stadium, but the one thing that’s hung over him is his failure to win the Champions League. This is his chance to put that right and end City’s Champions League hoodoo, so it’s an opportunity the Spaniard will be desperate to take.

Man City made light work of defending champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals, running out 5-1 winners on aggregate following an impressive 4-0 win at home in the second leg. City also beat Bayern Munich 4-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, so it’s easy to see why they are now firm favourites to win the trophy on Saturday night.

However, Inter Milan aren’t there just to make up the numbers and are quietly confident they can spoil City’s party to secure a shock victory. The Italian’s have been fully focussed on the Champions League for some time as Napoli ran away with the Serie A title. Inter’s title bid was over months ago and they had to settle for third place behind Lazio, but they comfortably secured Champions League football again for next season finishing eight points ahead of fifth-placed Atalanta.

Simone Inzaghi’s side beat rivals AC Milan in the semi-finals so set-up their first Champions League final in 13 years. Having already won the two domestic cup competitions – the Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia – Inter could secure a treble of their own with a win over Man City this weekend.

Tickets

The Champions League final is the biggest game of the footballing calendar so it’s no surprise that this game will be a sell out.  A total of 72,000 tickets are available for the game, but only 20,000 have been allocated to Man City. Therefore, getting hold of Man City tickets for the game is going to be extremely difficult.

Tickets through the official channels, such as UEFA or the Manchester City official website, have sold old weeks ago but fans could still get their hands on a ticket by using a reputable reselling site.

The game will be played at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, kicking off at 8pm GMT.

Team news

Man City have a minor concern over the fitness of Kyle Walker. The full-back has been suffering with back trouble ahead of the game and has been forced to miss training this week. However, Walker has played down suggestions he may miss the game and the England international is expected to start tomorrow night.

Guardiola has no other major injury concerns to worry about so he has virtually a fully fit squad to choose from.

As for Inter Milan, they could be without former Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan due to a thigh injury. The Armenian will face a late fitness test to see if he’ll be available for the game.

Joaquin Correa is also a doubt after picking up a calf issue during the win over Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia final. Federico DiMarco is expected to recover from a muscle knock to start while Edin Dzeko should line-up against his former side in attack.

Likely line-ups

Guardiola is expected to field the same outfield eleven that started the FA Cup final. The only change being No.1 goalkeeper Ederson coming in for Stefan Ortega between the sticks.

Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji should continue in defence alongside Walker, while John Stones will start once again in his new midfield role alongside Rodri. Gundogan will join Kevin De Bruyne in the City side while Jack Grealish should keep hold of his place ahead of Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez.

Obviously Erling Haaland will lead the line up front and he’ll be looking to finish off a sensational debut campaign at City with another goal in the final. The Norwegian international has netted a stunning 52 goals in 52 games so far this season.

For Inter, Lautaro Martinez should join Dzeko in attack while Nicolo Barella will be one to watch in midfield. Onana has been outstanding in goal for Inter this season and he should be busy between the sticks this weekend.

Man City XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji; Stones, Rodri; Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Grealish; Haaland

Inter XI: Onana; Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Martinez, Dzeko

Prediction

This is the first time these two teams have played a competitive game against each other so we have no history to look at. However, its safe to say City are the firm favourites to win on Saturday night.

Guardiola’s men are in formidable form and it’s hard to see Inter stopping them. No doubt the Italians will try to disrupt City’s flow and make it a physical battle, but Man City should still have too much quality.

Final’s are usually cagey, so we won’t see Man City running away with it, but we still expect them to get the job done to secure an historic treble in Istanbul. Man City 2-0 Inter Milan