This season’s Champions League final, the first competitive meeting between treble-chasing Manchester City and underdogs Inter Milan, is finally here. Get ready for Saturday’s match with theScore’s comprehensive preview package.
The lowdown ?
Who: Manchester City vs. Inter Milan
What: 68th European Cup final
When: Saturday, June 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET
Where: Ataturk Olympic Stadium (Istanbul, Turkey)
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)
How to watch ?
TV: CBS, Univision, TUDN (U.S.)
Stream: Paramount+ and fuboTV (U.S.), DAZN (Canada)
Betting odds ?
Odds via theScore Bet.
Manchester City: -220
Draw: +340
Inter Milan: +550
The latest news ?
Analysis ?
Tactics, key questions, and a prediction in our in-depth preview.
“The fundamentals of Manchester City’s approach haven’t changed. This season, they still led the Premier League in the usual metrics – such as possession and time in the opponents’ half – and remained bottom in statistics such as frequency of long passes and speed of attacks. Continuity is what makes this version of City most different from others during the Pep Guardiola era. There are fewer question marks about what the Spaniard will do for the big matches: Overthinking – a lazy media critique that leaned on the few instances a novel approach went wrong and disregarded the many times a Guardiola tweak paid off – has been increasingly unlikely as the season progressed.” Read more.
Further reading ?
Dive into some of the storylines surrounding the contest.
Injury updates ?
The latest on the lingering lineup questions.
| PLAYER | INJURY | STATUS |
|---|---|---|
| Kyle Walker (Manchester City) | Back | Expected to be fit |
| Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter) | Thigh | Expected to be fit |
| Joaquin Correa (Inter) | Calf | Expected to be fit |
| Milan Skriniar (Inter) | Back | Doubtful to play |
Predicted lineups ?
Manchester City (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake; John Stones, Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
Inter Milan (3-5-2): Andre Onana; Matteo Darmian, Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni; Denzel Dumfries, Nicolo Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Federico Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Edin Dzeko
The kit matchup ?
Path to the final ?
Reviewing how both teams got to Istanbul.
Manchester City
Group stage: First place in Group G
Round of 16: Beat RB Leipzig (8-1 on aggregate)
Quarterfinals: Beat Bayern Munich (4-1 on aggregate)
Semifinals: Beat Real Madrid (5-1 on aggregate)
Inter Milan
Group stage: Second place in Group C
Round of 16: Beat Porto (1-0 on aggregate)
Quarterfinals: Beat Benfica (5-3 on aggregate)
Semifinals: Beat AC Milan (3-0 on aggregate)
By the numbers ?
This season’s raw Champions League statistics for the two finalists.
| MANCHESTER CITY | INTER MILAN | |
|---|---|---|
| 7-5-0 | Record | 7-3-2 |
| 31 | Goals Scored | 19 |
| 5 | Goals Against | 10 |
| Erling Haaland (12) | Top Scorer | Edin Dzeko (4) |
Looking into some advanced metrics.
| MANCHESTER CITY | INTER MILAN | |
|---|---|---|
| 25.5 | Expected Goals (xG) | 16.2 |
| 8.9 | xG Against | 14.1 |
| +1.39 | xG Difference per 90 | +0.18 |
Tournament pedigree ?
Best European Cup finish for both clubs.
Manchester City: Runners-up (2021)
Inter Milan: Champions (1964, 1965, 2010)
Manchester City, this season’s Premier League and FA Cup winners, have hoovered up silverware since Guardiola’s arrival but continue to chase the big-eared trophy that has, thus far, proven elusive. They’ll be making their second appearance in the final after their narrow defeat to English peers Chelsea in 2021. Inter, meanwhile, have featured in club football’s showpiece match five times before, emerging victorious on three occasions. Simone Inzaghi’s men are also aiming to finish the campaign with multiple trophies after retaining their Coppa Italia crown last month.
Fun facts ?
Manchester City: Guardiola has an opportunity to enter rarefied territory on Saturday. With a victory, the Catalan manager would join Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, and Zinedine Zidane as the only men’s coaches to win the European Cup three times; Ancelotti is the lone bench boss to hoist it on four occasions. Guardiola, 52, led Barcelona to glory in 2009 and 2011, but hasn’t been able to repeat the feat since. He’ll look to end that drought in Turkey.
Inter Milan: Inzaghi is looking to become the first Italian coach to lead the Nerazzurri to European success. Inter’s previous triumphs were engineered by iconic tactician Helenio Herrera, the Argentine-French coach who oversaw the club’s “Grande Inter” era in the 1960s, and decorated Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho. Mourinho’s 2010 triumph included a famous semifinal victory over Barcelona, then coached by none other than Guardiola.
What they’re saying ?
Guardiola: “Of course we are confident, so optimistic, but at the same time I cannot deny the difficulties and qualities of the opponents … We know a final is about how you behave for 95 minutes. It’s not about history, for history they are better than us. It doesn’t matter what you do in the group stage, last 16, quarterfinals, Premier League, or FA Cup. It’s one single game you have to be better than the opponent.”
Inzaghi: “For us it was a dream but we have always believed in it. I’m proud to be here. Nobody has given us anything, we deserve everything that we have achieved. And now the dream to play the final has come true. It has been an extraordinary path and winning a derby in the semifinal brought particular satisfaction.”
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