Manchester City warmed up for the Champions League final by beating local rivals Manchester United 2-1 to clinch the FA Cup trophy last weekend.
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The Champions League final is just days away from kick-starting, as both Manchester City and Inter Milan are preparing hard for the all-important final. There is a lot riding on this fixture. Man City will hope to win their first Champions League crown and thereby achieve an unprecedented treble. On the other hand, Inter Milan would be keen to end their season on a high. It has been a long time since Inter lifted this prestigious trophy, thus they will also be eager to end the wait in the final.
Manchester City warmed up for the Champions League final by beating local rivals Manchester United 2-1 to clinch the FA Cup trophy last weekend. It was a hard-fought battle which saw City hang on to the narrow lead for the win. Former Arsenal player and Sky Sports football expert Paul Merson believes the contest against Inter Milan will be an even more difficult challenge than the one they encountered at Wembley Stadium last Saturday.
“Man City will be feeling the pressure in the Champions League final. They turned up against Chelsea a couple of years ago and were expected to win. We can go through semi-finals where they’ve been expected to turn up and win and they haven’t – it’s a big match, of course they’re going to be nervous. For how good they are and how dominant, how many times are they going to get into this position ever again? The league looks after itself, 38 games, you’ve got leeway in that but there’s only got to be a penalty in the final like they conceded against Manchester United and all of a sudden it’s game on,” he was quoted as saying by skysports.com.
Merson explains how difficult it would be for Man City players to deal with Inter Milan forwards like Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku. “I always thought this was a harder game than the Man Utd game. Inter have got forwards in Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku who can hurt you, I didn’t see that with United’s front three – bar Marcus Rashford. That was the problem. This is a tough game, and they will be nervous. If both teams play to the best of their ability, Man City win. But they’re humans, and even though they’re great we’ve seen off days with City. Not many, but a few,” he elaborated.
Paul Merson also explained how having a set team plays a big role for Manchester City, something many teams are not able to manage. “I think the team picks itself now. If you look at it now, it does. That’s a big advantage Man City have got now, for all the top players they have got and how he can turn it around, 100 City fans could name the team this weekend – and I personally think 100 of them would be right,” he added.
Merson made a comparison with Chelsea and said how difficult it is to identify the Blues’ Starting XI. Hence, he believes that having a set team is a big advantage for Pep Guardiola’s side. “That’s a big thing. You look at Chelsea – on the last day of the season if you’d asked 100 Chelsea fans what the team was going to be that day I don’t think any of them would’ve got it right. He’s got a set team here, and whereas before he’s juggled it up sometimes, I don’t think that’s the case now. It’ll be the same team as the FA Cup final in the Champions League final, I think, apart from the goalkeeper,” he stated.
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