Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez sobbed for a long time. The excitement at the Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Türkiye did not make the pain in his chest subside. Repeatedly, his colleagues who pretended to be tough came to cheer him up, but Lautaro was still sad. If time could be turned back, Lautaro would definitely not want Inter Milan to lose 0-1 to Manchester City in the 2022/23 European Champions League final.
Lautaro Martinez deserves to be disappointed. Inter Milan didn’t look bad, but it was Manchester City who finally won. Anyone who watched the Champions League final will agree that Inter Milan did what they had to do. As a team that is not seeded from City which looks superior, Inter Milan does not appear inferior in Istanbul.
Bravely allenatore Inter Milan, Simone Inzaghi continued to play the mainstay 3-5-2 formation. In fact, there are pundits who predict that Inter will play more defensively. Two strikers, with Lautaro as the motor, either friends with Edin Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku managed to make Manchester City think harder to keep control of their defensive line not too far forward.
It seems that Inzaghi has learned that City will find it difficult to face teams with two strikers rather than one. In the English Premier League, Brentford, who twice beat City, used two strikers; Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney to beat City at the Etihad.
Apart from that, the two Inter wings, both Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco, also performed well together with three midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu, Marcelo Brozovic and Nicolo Barella who appeared spartan, applying high pressure throughout the match. As a result, in the first round, Inter managed to hold a goalless draw. Apart from the City midfielder’s goals, it was Rodrigo who changed the result, but statistically Inter were ahead.
Even though City still controlled the match with 58 percent ball possession, Inter excelled in both shots on target and off target. Inter took 5 shots on goal against 4, and even 7 kicks off target against City’s 3, with 4 corners compared to City’s only 2. If you pay attention, Inzaghi was also able to maximize the high advantage of the Inter players, when corners or free-kicks occurred. Acerbi, Dzeko or Lukaku made the City players confused.
In the last five minutes, for example, if Dimarco’s header had not hit the bar, and Romelu Lukaku’s header had not touched Ederson’s leg, then the result would have been different.
But that’s it. These advantages will soon be forgotten, because in the end football only calculates that each team that scores more goals against the opponent comes out victorious, not a statistical advantage which ends up being useless.
Then what about Pep Guardiola with Manchester City? Even though it looked statistically congested, and made it difficult for Inter towards the end of the match, I have to say that Guardiola’s City controlled the match well for me.
There are 2 (two) things that I can say; First, Pep Guardiola’s confidence in playing a 3-2-4-1 formation with John Stones who was transformed into a box to box midfielder. I mean this. There is a safe choice that Pep can play, namely playing a 4-3-3 formation. In this option, Pep can play Kyle Walker as an inverted full back, rather than pushing John Stones wilder forward.
In this choice, it is believed, City can be safer to stop the two wings of Inter Milan, but Pep is Pep, a coach who doesn’t want to be in the comfort zone, with extraordinary findings of player movements. John Stones was chosen to play from the start, and together with Bernardo Silva can move wildly from the left side of the Inter Milan defense, while Ruben Diaz, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji will continue to stand firmly in line.
Obviously effective, because on paper, Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 is believed to guarantee strength in the midfield, but when dealing with City’s 3-4-1-1, the midfield is still controlled by City, because Pep presents 6 people midfielder with the addition of John Stones who often moves freely.
It’s considered a genius, because the Inter Milan midfielder and defender, at several points, seemed confused about reading the movements of John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodrigo, and the added flexibility of Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.
Second, Erling Haaland, who actually contributed to the maximum despite minimal opportunities. Before this final, when asked by the media about the key to City’s success in the final, Pep Guardiola likened Haaland to Lionel Messi.
“I’m not kidding! (But the key) is to have Messi in the past (with Barcelona) and to have Haaland now. Every successful manager has had good management and great player”, said Pep Guardiola.
Indeed, there is no need to tell much about Haaland’s greatness, because before the final match Haaland was confirmed to be the top scorer of the Champions League with 12 goals. However, Pep actually knows that mentioning and considering Haaland as a great player will attract the attention of opponents, and that will benefit the opposing player’s movements.
Whether we realize it or not, City’s success frustrated Real Madrid in the semifinals, with an aggregate of 5-1, not contributing a single goal from Haaland, but Haaland managed to provoke the opposing players to defend further. Just pay attention, at several moments, when City attacked, the three defenders and several players would continue to stick to Haaland, but make the defensive line deeper and leave space for City’s midfielders.
I mean this, when opponents focus on stopping Haaland’s 52 goals this season, then Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and even Rodri will have space to get their kicks out.
The last name proves it. When Bernardo Silva slipped from the right side, and the Inter Milan players started to get busy watching Haaland’s movements, Rodri then got a loose ball and perfectly hit it against Andre Onana. Rodri really has to watch out for. Last season alone he made almost 3000 passes, with precise ball interceptions and ball distribution performances with accuracy at the highest level.
Especially when John Stones was made by Pep as an additional midfielder as a distraction in the midfield, then Rodri will have more space to move. Inter were punished or hurt because of the moves by Haaland and Rodri this time around.
Finally, without going into further detail, it must be admitted that Inter Milan have tried, but it was Manchester City who made the decision. Tactically and technically, City can be said to be superior, but it’s not flawless.
A perfect result for Pep Guardiola. Apart from the treble winner, Pep also quenched the thirst for titles for The Citizen, who at Ataturk Stadium also rejoiced with owner Shekik Mansour, who has only directly watched Manchester City matches since 2010.
ASL
