'Warrior spirit' reignites a Champions League dream

Pipped to the Serie A title, Inter Milan are 90 minutes from a fourth European title. Miguel Delaney outlines how Simone Inzaghi has crafted one of the continent's most intense teams

- Miguel Delaney

Many of the Internazionale players still feel it. It is not the pride at returning to a Champions League, even after the spirit of that semi-final against Barcelona. It is really the pain from their last appearance at this stage in 2023. The Inter Milan players still remember the dejection on that Istanbul pitch.

Given that Manchester City won a treble that season, their 1-0 win has been cast as an inevitability, a translation of infinitely superior state resources into triumph. Inter have never felt that way. They thought they should have won, and were only a misfiring Romelu Lukaku away from glory.

Pride consequently isn’t enough here, as they face another stateowned club in Munich tomorrow. Inter are determined to set it right, even after falling short to Napoli in a gripping Serie A title race last weekend.

There’s a fire within the squad that has driven them through this Champions League campaign. Who really thought they would get past Bayern Munich and Barcelona? Who now truly thinks they’ll beat this Paris Saint-Germain?

Well, Inter do, and no one can say they’ve had a forgiving draw this time. They’ve been dismissed at every turn, but displayed defiance at every turn.

Those close to the squad even talk of “a warrior spirit”. This is what they have shown, especially in that semi-final. “We put everything on the pitch,” goalkeeper Yann Sommer said. That passion has naturally swirled right around the club off the pitch, where there really is a pride in their grandeur.

Insiders enthuse about an old-fashioned team in an oldfashioned club, in an entirely positive way. Despite PSG’s status as the new elite, Inter are the European royalty here. A win would make it four European Cups after 1964, 1965 and 2010. That would be level with Ajax, ahead of Manchester United.