Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi has received praise for a mature tactical display against his Man City opposite number Pep Guardiola in Saturday evening’s Champions League final.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who argue Inzaghi exceeded expectations.
City ultimately lived up to the billing as favourites to win the Champions League this weekend.
Even before the competition began, consensus was that the Cityzens were either the outright favourites or right up there. And, on Saturday evening, the Premier League champions had the pressure on them to make good on the hype.
Inter, on the other hand, went into the final with the “underdog” tag.
Simone Inzaghi Goes Toe-To-Toe With Pep Guardiola
Whilst City got the job done in the end on Saturday, it was not without significant struggle.
This was due to the approach of Inter coach Inzaghi.
Against a coach with the reputation of being the best in the world in the form of City boss Guardiola, Inzaghi got his approach just right.
In midfield, Inter were aggressive from the first whistle. The Nerazzurri rarely allowed the City players any time and space to build up possession.
It was a gamble to step up aggressively as often as they did, but it paid off for Inter.
City’s midfielders were rarely able to access really dangerous areas with the ball, and Inter’s back three and goalkeeper were well-protected.
Meanwhile, the Nerazzurri managed to force City’s defender and keeper Ederson into some sloppy errors.
Usually under Guardiola, City are very tactically adept at strangling the life out of matches. However, Inter made it into a back-and-forth, very physical contest.
Inzaghi anticipated how his opposite number would approach the match. His proactive high press made life very difficult for City to circulate the ball.
In the end, City’s quality told in a brilliant attacking move to score the match’s only goal in the second half.
However, the Gazzetta argue, Inter more than proved their quality throughout the match. And this was down to their coach’s impressive tactical approach.
