Champions League Final Preview

Inter… the Serpents. The Italian Anacondas (I made that up). Intermerda if you should happen to support Juventus, AC Milan, Napoli, or pretty much any other club in Italy. As always when an Italian team is in the Champions League Final, it is a double-edged sword for most Italians. You don’t just want your rival to lose, you want them to lose in the most heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, dramatic way possible. Even though it is in your own self-interest for them to win, and deep down, you know that. If they win, Italy gets more UEFA coefficient points. A rising tide lifts all ships, even if it is a hard pill to swallow. Many Italians will try to have the best of both worlds by actively yelling at their TVs about how much they hate Intermerda, while secretly wanting Italy to gain the coefficient points. Ah the duality of man.

PSG. Not your grandparents’ PSG of the 70s that had George Weah in the 80s. Not your parents PSG that was trendy but also rebellious when Lyon ruled France, either. No, not that pre-takeover PSG. Not that Elder Millennial PSG that had Zlatan, di Maria, Buffon for a year, etc. That iteration is distant past, too. Not even Mbappe, Messi, and Neymar. Nope. New PSG. Gen Z PSG. Made the Final. The Eiffel Towers… Eiffel Towerers… honestly, they don’t have a good nickname in English… Perry Sahn J’air mon if you insist on being snooty about it. PSG. Paris Saint-Germain finally got over the hump… to the last and final hump.

It may sicken AC Milan fans to think of it this way, but I kinda love the idea that it is Donnarumma vs Inter. The Captain of Italy vs Internazionale. The man who spent so much of his life in the city of Milan, who is, as of today, an enemy of Inter and AC Milan, the exile, is literally standing between half of Milan and glory. Regardless of who he plays for next (maybe even Inter?) for right now, Donnarumma (but not AC Milan) vs. Inter is the most intriguing storyline of the Champions League. Period. Full Stop.

The Inzaghi Bros are criminally underrated generational coaching talents. They understand the resources they have available to them, and they use them to get results. Over and over. It seems like just yesterday, and not a generation ago, that SuperPippo was in the Champions League GOAT conversation. Not saying he was the GOAT, just that he was in the conversation. While Simone was also in the conversation for goal drought GOAT. Simone Inzaghi might actually have that dubious distinction locked down.

Luis Enrique has done generally well at the helm of Barcelona, Spain, and now PSG. Don’t confuse getting results with behemoths with being a good coach. All three of those teams are supposed to do well. Expected, even. And have the resources to do so. Warm take- if he were that good, he would have been coaching Arsenal to the Final instead of the other way around, and I’m no Gooner.

Besides Donnarumma, 21 other guys are going to be playing, plus substitutes. Nobody’s suspended. Hopefully both squads will be as close to full-strength as they can be. Inter has depth and experience, and a respectable defense. Respectable is an understatement, but they don’t get the respect that a defense of that quality should. Defense wins ch- blah blah blah. Anybody expecting Inter to play some ultra conservative stereotypical Italian defense like decades past is simply not paying attention. Everyone wants a goal fest. All signs point to a goal fest. Hell, Donnarumma is probably the only thing standing in the way of a goal fest. And he’s no absolute sure thing in front of the net. I’m expecting a goal fest, but not because of defensive errors and mental mistakes. Get ready for a barn burner, but not because of a lack of trying by quality defenders. Hakimi and Hernandez may give PSG the sexier names, but when it comes down to it, I’ll take Inter’s defense over PSG’s eight days a week, and twice on CL Final Saturdays.

I admire the talent and youthful enthusiasm of PSG’s midfield, but Inter are going to boss them around like Tony Danza at a Bruce Springsteen concert wearing Hugo Boss. Even with PSG’s speed, Inter are going to set the tempo and then control the tempo from wire to wire. It will be a high tempo goal fest, but Inter still have a major edge in that department. When it comes to the team sheet, Inter have the better midfield.

I fully expect the Final to be wild. Like 4-2 or 4-3 wild. Not in a lethal strikers scoring hatties kind of way. More in a set pieces, missiles from outside the box, hope and a prayer off the post and in kind of way. Two teams with nothing to lose and everything to prove are going to throw the kitchen sink at each other. I can’t wait.

Then again, a lot can change between now and then. Injuries are always a moment away. There could be a red card thirty seconds into the game. Even professionals at the highest level have been known to wilt under pressure. Despite of (or maybe because of) the new format, we find ourselves on the eve of the Final, expecting high scores and high drama. Time to start counting down the days. Cue the music.

This Champions League Final, a quarter of the way into the century, seems like the first day of the future. Nearly 100 years ago Giuseppe Meazza made his debut at age seventeen for Inter. The future is bright, but let’s not forget about the legends who blazed the trails that brought us here. My debut nonfiction novel, THE COLORS WE BLEED FOR, will be out March 3rd of next year. Get excited for the Final. Get really excited for the book.

Giuseppe Meazza