There is one very important thing that Inter can boast over Manchester City going into the Champions League Final and Pep Guardiola acknowledges the pressure is all on his team. ‘To be recognised, you have to win in Europe.’
The sides face off at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on Saturday June 10 and it is an opportunity for City to do the Treble, having already won the Premier League and the FA Cup this season.
“More than the fact for the treble is the fact to win the Champions League,” confessed Guardiola. “We won already the FA Cup, we won the Premier League.
“Everybody knows it. We have done incredible seasons – five Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, Carabao Cups – but we have to win the Champions League to be recognised like the team deserves to be recognised.
“We have to admit it, without the Champions League – it has been amazing, it has been fun – but we are missing (something). We have to do it.
“We give more and more credit for what we have done these years, we have done many things, but I said to the players ‘you have to put the pressure on yourself, to be recognised as something good you have to win Europe.’”
There can be no doubt that Guardiola’s team are the favourites going into this clash and that may well be the biggest thing going in Inter’s favour.
The Nerazzurri won the Champions League three times already and also took the Treble in 2010, whereas Manchester City for all their record-breaking spending on the transfer market and recent domination of the Premier League have never been able to take that ultimate trophy.
It might seem paradoxical, but failure to beat Inter in the Champions League Final could be considered a flop for City, whereas Simone Inzaghi’s men have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.