The last official match of the season on the continent will decide the new king of football Europe. A match (9:00 p.m.) that will pit one of the great favorites in the competition, Manchester City, against a team that nobody counted on at the beginning of the season, Inter. These are my 5 keys for this great game:
Guardiola’s team is managing to subdue all their rivals this season. Stones’ double role means that with the ball, City design an inside square with him, Rodri, Gundogan and De Bruyne. In this way, just like Barça does, they look for superiority inside with four. A superiority that the opponents can compensate by adding another midfielder as well. But the citizens have applied another tactical factor to continue finding it in these cases. And it is that, the fact of also playing with associative players at the ends (Grealish and Bernardo Silva), allows them to add more people inside to submit. One of the things we can see tonight if Inter clogs the inner zones and one of the keys for City to play comfortably in the rival field. If you succeed, you will be able to impose your superior quality.
It is almost certain that, as happened against Madrid, the interista central defenders will be very close to Haaland. Even playing with three on the axis. And it is that the Norwegian’s ability to convert a goal from almost nothing, positionally and emotionally intimidates all opponents. A factor that is making it difficult for him to enter the game a lot but that, without a doubt, favors his closest teammates. The two midfielders can do a lot of damage in the interior corridors that can be created. Furthermore, both De Bruyne and Gundogan know how to take advantage of it and have goalscoring ability. The German midfielder arrives in full idyll with the goal. Two against Madrid in the semis, and two against United in the FA Cup Final.
One of the most powerful and most effective weapons in Inzaghi’s box goes through direct play and counters. Inter knows how to go out quickly and well. The midfielders have a very good foot for medium movements and, the two wingers, fall into free spaces automatically when the ball is recovered. But City’s defense moves well on guards. So for every ball that the Italians can recover, they will come out quickly and efficiently. Inzaghi (an artist as a player in it) will have worked it well during the week. If Inter can run well into spaces, they can do damage with the wingers and wingers (both arrive). If, on the other hand, City manages to cut these sequences quickly, they will get very close to victory.
Inter is a team with order on the field but, far from it, with a great choral game. So one of the strengths goes through what their most outstanding players can generate. Especially Barella, Lautaro and Lukaku. The first, with his mobility and creativity. The second, with magnificent falls to the wing and movements into space, and the third, acting as a buoy in the area and gaining positions through twists of the trunk, his impressive physique and a super powerful shot.
It may be surprising because both teams have players with high aerial power (especially Inter) but both teams have shown themselves to be vulnerable when defending from set pieces. City have conceded 3 of the 5 goals they have conceded in this Champions League (60%) while Inter have also conceded 3 of the 10 goals they have conceded in (30%). And we already know that the importance of the set pieces in the finals is very high. Pay attention to this point.
