KEIR RADNEDGE in ISTANBUL —- Internazionale, for all their three Club World Cups, three Champions Leagues, three UEFA Cups, 19 Serie A titles and nine Italian cups, are probably the longest outsiders in the most prestigious European showdown since Steaua Bucharest were demolished by neighbours AC Milan in 1989.

The Nerazzurri finished 18 points behind Napoli in Serie A but the near-dismissal of their potential is not due to any particular inadequacies in a dutiful and solid squad commanded by coach Simone Inzaghi but to almost everyone’s perceptions – outside Italy – of the stellar class and quality of a Manchester City enhanced by 52-goal Erling Haaland.

More, the glory momentum lies with manager Pep Guardiola’s high-cost, Abu Dhabi-funded City from the running down of Arsenal in the Premier League title race and then dismissal of neighbours United in last weekend’s FA Cup Final far more decisively than the 2-1 Wembley scoreline would suggest.

The only serious danger to City’s treble crowning in the Ataturk Stadium would appear to come from within. In 2019 Guardiola tinkered with his personnel and tactics for the final against Chelsea and ended up with a 1-0 defeat which dented his pride in success with Barcelona as a player in 1992 and coach in 2009 and 2011.

Guardiola’s status as a coach rests not only on 30 major international and national trophies with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City but also on his reputation as the supreme educator-coach of the era. The use of a ‘false No9’ and the inversion of fullbacks Joshua Kimmich at Bayern and now John Stones at City are the two most obvious outward examples. Many more tales have emerged of his inspirational one-on-one work on the training ground.

The prize at stake is not only City’s first Champions prize – for which Guardiola was contracted seven years ago – but the club’s proven status as world No1.

Treble chance

Guardiola had danced around the issue until he could ignore it no longer after the FA Cup success. He said: “We must accept that if we want to make a definitive step as a big club, we have to win the Champions League. That’s something you can’t avoid. But the most important thing is to be there again and again and again.

“Two years ago, we were there. Two years later, we are here again. We will try, and the most important thing is to be here again in a few years. That’s what defines a big club, when year after year you make it to the Champions League, fighting in the latest stages and winning the title.”

The elephant in the Turkish room comprises the 115 financial breach charges levied by the Premier League against City. They serve as a reminder of the trophy-winning power of money and the race to corporate and/or state-enabled domination. The issue appears to have been parked while the focus is on the football but it will still be there after the final whistle, whatever the outcome.

The cv of Inter coach Inzaghi does not compare with that of the talent-endowed Guardiola but he is no novice. As a player he won Serie A with Lazio whom he then guided, as coach, to success in the Coppa Italia once and the SuperCoppa twice. He repeated that cup double twice with Inter where he succeeded Antonio Conte in 2021.

He has lost only one of his eight finals as a coach. That was his first, Lazio’s Coppa Italia defeat by Juventus in 2017.

Dzeko or Lukaku

Inzaghi has some delicate decisions to make, notably in attack where he must decide whether to partner Lautaro Martinez with Edin Dzeko or Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku. Marcelo Brozovic is expected to start in midfield rather than Henrikh Mkhitaryan who has only just recovered from a hamstring injury he suffered in the semi-final win over neighbours Milan.

Inter have won this competition three times, twice under Helenio Herrera in the 1960s then under Jose Mourinho in 2010. None of those three victories were entertaining. Their mid-1960s victories over Real Madrid and Benfica were triumphs of pragmatism over romance.

If they are to upset all the odds then No4 will not be pretty either.

################