Key events
Scott Carson: Manchester City’s 37-year-old third choice goalkeeper is on the bench tonight and should City prevail, will win his second Champions League medal. He won his first as an unused Liverpool substitute in the same stadium 18 years ago.
Pep Guardiola on the omission of Kyle Walker: Upon being asked if Walker has been left out because of his back injury, the Manchester City manager shakes his head. “No, no, no, no,” he tells BT Sport. “It could be that … it was really tough because Kyle is so important for us but for the way we want to defend, the way we want to attack, we need another type of player. That is the only reason why.” Ouch.
Jack Grealish: Manchester City’s record signing was often peripheral in last season’s big games but now feels he belongs and is showing it on and off the ball. David Hytner reports from Istanbul …
Those teams: Kyle Walker is the only slightly surprising omission from Manchester City’s line-up, having to make do with a place on the bench. Nathan Ake starts instead of him and we’ll find out in time whether Pep has left Walker out because of his back injury, or simply preferred the Dutch international.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the most conspicuous absentee from Inter’s line-up and has presumably not fit to start having missed all his side’s four games since the semi-final second leg against Milan. Marcelo Brozovic comes in for him. Edin Dzeko gets the nod up front alongside Lautaro Martinez, while Romaleu Lukaku is on the bench.
|Manchester City v Inter line-ups
Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Stones, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Walker, Phillips, Laporte, Ortega, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Perrone, Carson, Foden, Palmer, Lewis.
Inter: Onana, Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Dimarco, Dzeko, Martinez.
Subs: Gagliardini, de Vrij, Gosens, Correa, Bellanova, Asllani, Cordaz, Mkhitaryan, D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Lukaku, Handanovic.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Erling Haaland interview
Manchester City’s striker reflects on record-breaking season and his dream of winning European football’s biggest prize with Manchester City. Words: David Hytner in Istanbul.
How Inter can trouble City
It may be a small sample size but statistics from the Premier League season suggest the Italian side could have a formation to frustrate City, writes Jonathan Wilson, who says that Inter could do worse than try to imitate Brentford.
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Manchester City: Pep Guardiola believes a healthy obsession with winning the Champions Leaguecan propel Manchester City to beat Internazionale in Saturday’s final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium. Jamie Jackson reports from Istanbul …
Sheikh Mansour to attend tonight’s final
Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, will attend his team’s Champions League final against Inter this evening in what will be only the second competitive game he has attended since his investment vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group, purchased City in 2008.
Traffic news: Inter’s section of the stadium is currently far more densely populated than Manchester City’s and fans are struggling to make it to there because of dreadful traffic jams snaking in the direction of the quite inaccessible ground. The Ataturk Stadium is located about an hour’s drive from Istanbul’s Taksim Square, where many fans have spent the past day or two roistering.
Obviously, it takes far longer to get from the city centre to the ground on a match day and Uefa laid on shuttle buses for supporters which have been running since 1pm this afternoon. Manchester City fans will be pleased to read that their team’s two coaches have just arrived at the stadium.
Edin Dzeko: The 37-year-old Inter striker won two Premier League titles with Manchester City, still refers to them as ‘my club’ and knows he played a big part in launching their modern success. Nicky Bandini reports …
Simone Inzaghi’s pre-match press conference
“We have the opportunity to write ourselves into the history of this club,” he said. “It’s difficult, but we’ll try our best. We know what this match means for everyone at Inter, from the club to the fans. The fans have always been with us. We have great responsibility.
“We’re not relaxed: we’re fully focused, we’ll fight bit by bit against a truly strong side. The midfield will be very important, but not just that; we’ll need ‘legs, head and heart’. Making that extra run, staying bright, and with the heart, you can find extra energy.”
On choosing his team and the balance of his squad: “Only recently I’ve had to pick players and had doubts,” he said. “It’s a great resource being able to choose between players. I am lucky to coach players who are able to play these games. We have a mix of youngsters and experienced players who have played several finals. The details make a difference.”
On how he plans to stop Erling Haaland: “We know how strong Haaland is. We’ve prepared something to keep him quiet, though the entirety of Inter will need to be good in limiting him and the whole team. They defend well, they attack well. We will try to play our football and the right game.”
Pep Guardiola’s pre-match press conference
“We know exactly how important the competition is,” he said. “We’re just focusing on what we have to do. I’ve seen as many Inter games as possible to try to get to know them as well as possible. What is important tomorrow is to put in the best performance we can. That will make the difference.
On Inter’s threat: “It’s the way they play. All the processes they do, on the left side especially, are exceptional. They have the ability to play that extra pass. We have to find a solution to be more effective. They can attack you down the middle, they can attack you out wide. That is very difficult to control. If you get into one-on-ones, they can destroy you. We’re going to try and defend as well as possible and just try to put in a good performance.”
Asked about the lessons he has learned from City’s defeat at the hands of Chelsea in the 2021 final, Pep had this to say: “It’s a different game. It’s two years later; many things have happened. We planned to have a good game against Chelsea [but] it didn’t work. Tomorrow will be the same. We’re ready. I have the feeling that we are ready. The players have a good feeling, knowing that they respect the qualities that Inter have.”
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Tonight’s match officials
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Referee: Szymon Marciniak
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Assistant referees: Paweł Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz
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Fourth official: István Kovács
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Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski
Early team news …
Manchester City’s 23-man squad have an almost spotless bill of health going into this evening’s final, although Pep Guardiola raised midweek concerns over Kyle Walker, who is suffering from a slight back injury. The defender has, however, declared himself fit and available to play if selected. Despite his reputation for potentially dangerous meddling ahead of major finals, CIty’s starting line-up appears set in stone.
Ten of the 11 players who swatted Real Madrid aside in the semi-final second leg started the FA Cup final against Manchester United and look likely to line up again tonight. Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson will almost certainly return in place of Stefan Ortega as the only change.
Inter have a couple of injury concerns. Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitarian has not played since picking up a thigh injury in the second leg of Inter’s semi-final second leg against AC Milan but is expected to be fit. Argentinian striker Joaquin Correa is suffering a calf injury but is expected to take his place on the bench, with Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko likely to get the nod up front.
On Pep and his claims to be the GOAT: “To be the best coach in the world means shit,” he said during his time at Bayern Munich. But how about being the best of an era, of a moment in time? How about being the best coach ever? And how do we even measure these things now? It is a question worth asking, albeit without much hope of a sensible answer,” writes Barney Ronay.
Champions League: Manchester City v Inter
Istanbul’s Atatürk Stadium is the venue for tonight’s Champions League final, with Manchester City aiming to win Europe’s top trophy for the first time in their history. Should they prevail, they will wrap up an historic League, Cup and European Cup treble that has been achieved just once before, by their bitter rivals Manchester United back in 1999.
Standing in their way is an Inter side few give a snowball’s chance in hell of lifting the trophy, but despite being massive underdogs, the wily Italians can play a bit and will certainly fancy their chances of upsetting the odds to win their fourth European Cup. The Nerazzurri won back-to-back titles in 1964 and 65 before lifting the trophy for a third timer in 2010.
Kick-off in Istanbul is at 8pm (BST), but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up, including no end of preview material from our top team of talented writers.
