Simone Inzaghi, Italian football clings to him and the final Manchester City Inter- Corriere.it

We are hanging on to the much mistreated Simone Inzaghiwho risked losing Inter and can now drag it where in the summer not even the most incurable of optimists would have imagined. The Champions League is our last chance to lift a Cup to the sky. Roma lost the Europa League on penalties, Fiorentina saw the Conference vanish in the 90th minute and both returned home amidst regrets and tears. Inzaghi’s success, in the country of marked rivalries and neighborhood quarrels, would not ease the pain of the Giallorossi and Viola, but it would give complete meaning to our battered football, which after dark years is trying to raise its head again. Three teams in the final and 5 in the semifinal are the basis from which to start again, chasing a new spring.

The hardest mountain to climb awaits us and not only because Inzaghi, the king of no-return matches, will have to compete with the visionary Pep, the best in the world who can count on Haaland, himself the best center forward in the world. Manchester City is a stellar team, apparently flawless, which has won the Premier League and the FA Cup and is aiming for the Champions League and consequently the Treble, the hat-trick. Just to give you an idea, Guardiola finished the championship with 49 points ahead of West Ham, who just beat Fiorentina. And the Viola played equal against Inter in both the Italian Cup and the league. There will be pain, suffering, gritting your teeth, not losing lucidity in the many hard moments of the night in Istanbul.

But trust is not lost either. The finals are a separate sport, the technical differences are reduced and the head counts more than the legs. City never won the cup with big ears and Guardiola only succeeded in Barcelona thanks to Messi. In search of definitive consecration, the English could get wrapped up, as happened two years ago with Chelsea. And Inter, the ferocious and convinced one of the last stretch of the road, can surprise them. Winning the most difficult final would be quite a coup. And it would take the hassle out of a reverse treble.