Former Barcelona, Roma and Milan striker Bojan Krkic explains how Inter can make the Champions League Final ‘particularly interesting’ against Manchester City.
The teams meet on Saturday at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul.
While City are the overwhelming favourites, the fact remains Inter have won this trophy three times and it has so far always eluded Manchester City, despite their huge spending sprees.
“The pressure on them could be a point in Inter’s favour,” Krkic told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Manchester City are an aggressive side, they hammer you, but they cannot play like that for 90 minutes. Or even 120. So if Inter manage to avoid conceding a goal in the first half, then the game could get particularly interesting.”
As he worked with Guardiola in that Barcelona side, and played in their 2010 semi-final defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Inter, does Krkic see any weaknesses?
“People criticise Guardiola for not winning the Champions League outside of Barcelona, but at times I really don’t understand people. They said the same about Leo Messi and the World Cup, but now that he has won it, they can talk about him as the best. He was always the best, with or without the World Cup.”
Krkic played in Italy for Milan and Roma, so he still has happy memories of that time, even if it didn’t go the way he wanted.
“I never regretted accepting Luis Enrique’s call at Roma. I had the honour and the privilege of playing with Francesco Totti, a sort of God, a legend. When he went to say something in the locker room, silence fell. We still keep in contact.”