The Champions League Final
In 1955, the Coupe des Clubs Champions Europeens was introduced initially as a straight knockout tournament open only to the champions of Europe’s domestic leagues. In 1992, the competition adopted the current name of the Champions League and arguably changed the competition. This year’s final will see Manchester City, looking for a treble this season, versus Inter Milan, looking for their fourth European Cup. The final this year will take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on June 10, 2023.
The Premier League Champions have never won the Champions League and are making only their second ever appearance in the final. They last appeared in the final in 2021 losing to Chelsea, 1-0 to a Kai Havertz goal in what was one of the most uninteresting finals I’ve ever watched. Inter last appeared in the final in 2010, beating Bayern Munich 2-0, in a year where Inter completed an historic treble themselves led by none-other than Jose Mourinho.
According to FiveThirtyEight, after the groups were drawn for the competition last summer, Manchester City had a 31% chance to make the final and 18% chance to win the final, both second only to Bayern Munich. Inter had a 5% chance to make the final and a 2% chance to win the final. Manchester City are currently -245 to win according to the bookmakers.
Man City opened the competition in Group G, matched with Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, and FC Copenhagen. They finished top of the group with 14 points and did not lose a match in the group stage (nor in the competition for that matter). In the Round of 16, they beat up RB Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate, drawing the first match 1-1 and winning in Manchester 7-0. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Bayern Munich, the tournament favorites, 4-1 on aggregate, winning the first match 3-0 and drawing 1-1 in the second match. In the semifinals, they defeated the cup holders Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate, drawing the first match in Madrid 1-1 and smashing them in the second match 4-0.
Inter had arguably the toughest group in the competition in Group C, dare I say, the Group of Death, matched up against Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Viktoria Plzen. Their first match was a 2-0 defeat to Bayern, but they did manage to finish second behind Bayern and three points ahead of Barcelona in the group. Inter had the easier path in the knockout stages however, defeating FC Porto 1-0 on aggregate in the Round of 16, defeating Benfica 5-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals including a riveting 3-3 draw in the second leg at the San Siro and beating their city rivals AC Milan 3-0 on aggregate.
Manchester City and Inter Milan have never played each other in the Champions League. In fact, they have only played against one another twice before, both pre-season friendly matches, each winning 3-0 (at least that I could find in my limited research). Man City have some dude named Earling Haaland as their center forward. He only broke the Premier League single-season goal scoring record for a 38-match season by scoring 36 goals. Broken down, he scored 7 with his head, 6 with his right foot, 23 with his left foot, including scoring 7 penalties. Oh, right, he’s also scored 12 goals in the Champions League this season. Incredibly, Haaland has scored an astonishing 35 goals in 29 Champions League appearances in his career. And he’s only 22 years old. I may have underwear older than that!
Inter are no slouches, however. They finished second in Serie A last season and will finish in the top four in Serie A this season. Their top scorer also happens to be a World Cup winner, Argentinian Laturo Martinez, who contributed 21 goals this season in Serie A. They also have the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Eden Dzeko, the latter who was part of the Manchester City team that famously won the Premier League on that Agueeeerrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooo goal in 2012. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, do yourself a favor and watch the highlights of that match vs Queen Park Rangers on the last day of the Premier League that season.
So, who wins? Hell if I know. I’m just writing a blog. But if I had to guess, it’s gonna go one of two ways. Either Man City smash Inter 4-0 or Inter win on penalties. One thing I am certain of, Earling Halaand will score at least once. My official prediction is Man City 2 and Inter 1.