By Robert Wheeler
- Manchester City play Inter Milan
- Guardiola’s side can win the treble
- Only one trophy eludes Man City
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – Manchester City have the opportunity to go down as one of the greatest-ever teams if they defeat Inter Milan this Saturday.
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City’s Date with Destiny
Just one game stands in the way of Manchester City and a historic treble that would see Pep Guardiola‘s side enter the pantheon of the World’s best-ever team. City have the firepower to blow their opposition away, as they did to Real Madrid in the 5-1 aggregate semi-final victory. They are clear favourites against Inter Milan.
Although Arsenal put up a good fight in the Premier League, once Guardiola’s side got going there was no stopping them. They ended up winning the division but five points with Erling Haaland scoring a sensational 36 goals. City added to their league title with the FA Cup last weekend by defeating Manchester United in the final.
United managed to keep Haaland quiet but as so often happens with teams that do this, they forget about the other star players in City’s ranks. Ilkay Gundogan found the back of the net twice from outside the box, his first coming just 12 seconds into the game.
The only English team to ever win the treble was Manchester United in 1999. They needed late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. This City side has the capability to win the competition in a much more comfortable style. If they do so then it could be argued that they are better than Sir Alex Ferguson‘s side of 24 years ago.
Inter go into this game on the back of a Serie A season where they finished 3rd. This was 18 points off the division’s champions Napoli. Their forward line is familiar to English fans, they have Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea and Lautaro Martinez who is so often linked with Premier League teams. Off the bench, they use former City striker Edin Dzeko.
The Bosnian played an instrumental role in City’s title-winning side in 2012. He scored the equaliser in added time against Queens Park Rangers before Sergio Aguero got the dramatic late winner. However, they are a very different team now to the one that Dzeko departed seven years ago.
City’s midfielder Rodri believes his side is ready to win the Champions League.
He told the BBC: “Pep said you will not be ‘big, big’ if you don’t win in Europe, It’s the exam we have to pass again. It’s another final and we are ready. I’m going to push the guys to be ourselves, be confident, try our best and fight for the final.”
A victory for City is the unanimous predicted result. Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe speaking to Sky Sports said: “It’s going to be a great game, I’m going to watch it. I think Man City are going to win!”
Score prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Inter Milan
Manchester City play Inter Milan at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium on Saturday, June 10, kick-off at 20:00.
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