Inter Milan carries Italian soccer on its back as club seeks first Champions League title in 15 years

CNN

7 days ago

It's been 15 years since an Italian club last lifted the Champions League trophy – a long and barren stretch for the calcio-mad country.
To see a team from Italy win the most coveted prize in European club soccer feels overdue, particularly given the nation's history and pedigree in the sport. That could all change this weekend when Inter Milan faces Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Munich on Saturday – a second Champions League final in three years for the Nerazzurri.
A fourth European title for Inter might be a flickering reminder of the golden era of Italian club soccer in the 1990s, back when Serie A was home to the greatest players of the time. Today's teams hardly boast the same number of global superstars, but Champions League success for Inter – following the lesser European titles of the Europa League and Conference League for Atalanta and AS Roma, respectively – would perhaps offer a glimpse of an Italian Renaissance.
'Italian football was really feeling a bit down on itself up until recent years, about its record in European competition,' Adam Summerton, a TNT Sports commentator who closely follows Italy's Serie A, told CNN Sports.
'I think it had almost become an embarrassment, really, for a league the size of Italy and the standing of Italy. … Some of that pride now has been restored with the performances of teams in recent years, but in order to truly restore that – and I guess for Italian football to gain that bit of pride back – I think to win the Champions League, to win the ultimate prize, to have a club that has to be called the best team in Europe, that's massive.'
Inter has been on the cusp of silverware on three, arguably four, occasions this season. Just last weekend, it came achingly close to winning the Serie A title, only to finish a single point behind champion Napoli on the final matchday. That prompted manager Simone Inzaghi to acknowledge that there had been 'a lot of suffering in me and in the players' at the start of this week, though Saturday's final offers a chance to ease that pain.
And one positive for Inter is that Inzaghi and many of his players have been in this position before, the current squad not radically different to the one which narrowly lost to Manchester City in the 2023 final.
This Inter team is full of experienced campaigners – the likes of defenders Francesco Acerbi and Matteo Darmian, plus midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It has the highest average age of any squad in Italy this past season – 29.1, according to Transfermarkt – and will be hungry for silverware after a series of near-misses. As well as failing to clinch the league title, Inter lost to bitter rival AC Milan in January's Italian Super Cup and again to Milan in April's Italian Cup semifinals.
But the bigger picture for the Nerazzurri is one of success under Inzaghi. The 49-year-old, who arrived at the club in 2021, has already won a Scudetto, two Italian Cups and three Italian Super Cups during his time in charge. Just to reach two Champions League finals is also an impressive feat, especially given the financial firepower of some of Europe's top clubs – the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, and, indeed, PSG.
'This isn't just a coach who's a flash in the pan or somebody who's up and coming,' says Summerton. 'People might disagree, but in my view, he's an established, elite-level coach now, and I think that to win the Champions League would give that validation, recognition, and underline that this is a guy whose work really needs to be taken seriously.'
Inzaghi, a former striker who spent most of his playing career with Lazio, is under contract with Inter until 2026. He has reportedly been offered more than $23 million per season (€20 million) to take charge of Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, but was reluctant to talk about his future when asked this week.
'It's the same thing every year, when I was at Lazio and at Inter,' said Inzaghi. 'Luckily, there are requests from Italy, from abroad and from Saudi Arabia.
'But I think it would be crazy right now to think about that. As the (club) president said, with whom I have a great relationship, the day after the game we'll sit down and talk, as we've always done over the years, with only one objective, which is the good of Inter.'
Understandably, a Champions League trophy would provide a huge boost to Inzaghi's managerial resumé – because of the funds at his disposal and the teams he would have beaten along the way.
Having conceded just one goal in this season's group stages, Inter then saw off Feyenoord, Bayern Munich, and – in sensational fashion – Barcelona in the knockout stages.
The breathless, mad-cap win in the semifinals against Barça – finally ending 7-6 on aggregate after Acerbi's stoppage-time equalizer and Davide Frattesi's extra-time winner – will be remembered as one of the great nights in the club's history.
Crucially, it showed that Inter under Inzaghi has the tools and tactics to compete with – and beat – the best teams in Europe.
'They have this incredible ability to adapt, to be flexible,' says Summerton. 'They play within a formation that Inzaghi is pretty wedded to – the 3-5-2 – but there is so much flexibility within that formation, in the way that they play.
'I think that Inter are a really tricky side for PSG to play in the final because of that versatility that they have, the rotations that they play with. They're a very, very difficult team to play against.'
Ahead of the final, Inter has been boosted by the return of captain Lautaro Martínez, whose nine goals in 13 games represents one of the best returns in the Champions League this season – only four players have scored more.
Martínez is looking to add a Champions League medal to an already impressive haul of trophies in his career: the World Cup and two Copa América titles with Argentina, as well as two league titles with Inter.
'To experience another final of this scale, in this competition, is going to be incredible,' he told UEFA this week, adding: 'I really want to enjoy the moment, this final, this game. Then if it comes to fruition, it will be a dream come true.'
It will be a dream, too, for those Inter fans who have waited 15 years to taste Champions League glory once again. Now, only one team stands in the way of the trophy's long-awaited return to Italy.