Champions League Final Preview – City And Inter Go Head To Head In Istanbul

By Ian John
on May 29th, 2023
in bet365 Sportsbet365 GuidesIn-Depth Gambling Site Guides

Last up in our series of articles looking at this season’s big UEFA finals is of course the Champions League Final.

This year, we head back to the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, site of the famous Liverpool Champions League comeback win over AC Milan back in 2005.

And just as that final was the first meeting in the competition between the two opponents, this year’s final will be the first time Manchester City and Inter Milan clash too.

At the time of writing, Manchester City are on course for a domestic treble with the FA Cup Final coming up on Saturday 3^rd June ahead of this final on the 10^th.

It would be a first victory in the tournament for City, while Inter would land their fourth Champions League win should they be victorious.

Let’s now take a closer look at the game with any odds shown courtesy of bet365 Sport.

BONUS CODE: BET247

CLICK TO COPY ↑

Open Account Offer:
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets

Min Deposit: £5 – Expiry: 30 days – Min Odds: 1/5 (1.20)

New Customers only. Bet £10* & Get £30* in Free Bets. Sign up, deposit between £5* and £10* to your account and bet365 will give you three times that value in Free Bets when you place qualifying bets to the same value and they are settled. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits. Min odds/bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. T&Cs, time limits & exclusions apply. The bonus code BET247 can be used during registration, but does not change the offer amount in any way. Registration Required.

Champions League Final

1 – The 2023 #UCL final will be the first ever competitive meeting between Man City and Internazionale. It's the first time a debut meeting between two sides has been in a Champions League final since Liverpool v Milan in Istanbul in 2005. Spooky. pic.twitter.com/tgNp9D1oe9
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 17, 2023

Inter Milan v Manchester City

Date – Saturday 10^th June
Venue (capacity) – Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey (76,092)
Kick Off Time – 8pm
Referee – Szymon Marciniak (Pol)
Live On – BT Sport

This year’s Champions League final sees Manchester City and Inter lock horns in Istanbul, the first meeting between the two teams in Europe.

Fans in the UK can watch live on BT Sport with kick off 8pm on Saturday night in what should be an exciting end to the season.

Let’s take a closer look at the final lying in front of us.

UEFA Champions League Final

Inter Milan v Manchester City

The Road to Istanbul – Inter

Inter qualified for the Champions League via their Serie A position and they were drawn into Group C alongside giants Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

Group Stage Match 1 – v Bayern Munich (H) – L 0-2
Group Stage Match 2 – v Viktoria Plzen (A) – W 2-0 (Dzeko 20, Dumfries 70)
Group Stage Match 3 – v Barcelona (H) – W 1-0 (Calhanoglu 45+2)
Group Stage Match 4 – v Barcelona (A) – D 3-3 (Barella 50, Martinez 63, Gosens 89)
Group Stage Match 5 – v Viktoria Plzen (H) – W 4-0 (Mkhitaryan 35, Dzeko 42,66, Lukaku 87)
Group Stage Match 6 – v Bayern Munich (A) – L 0-2

Group C Table

Bayern Munich – 18pts (+16)
Inter Milan – 10pts (+3)
Barcelona – 7 pts (0)
Viktoria Plzen – -0pts (-19)

Inter’s second place finish in the group earned the a spot in the knockout phase as one of the unseeded teams in this stage of the competition.

Round of 16 1^st Leg – v FC Porto (H) – W 1-0 (Lukaku 86)
Round of 16 2^nd Leg – v FC Porto (A) – D 0-0
Quarter Finals 1^st Leg – v Benfica (A) – W 2-0 (Barella 57, Lukaku 82p)
Quarter Finals 2^nd Leg – v Benfica (H) – D 3-3 (Barella 14, Martinez 65, Correa 78)
Semi Finals 1^st Leg – v AC Milan (A) – W 2-0 (Dzeko 8, Mkhitaryan 11)
Semi Finals 2^nd Leg – v AC Milan (H) – W 1-0 (Martinez 74)

Champions League Record – Played – 12, Won – 7, Drew – 3, Lost – 2, For – 19, Against – 10

Inter Milan Squad

Players squad number is shown in brackets.

Goalkeepers

(1) Samir Handanovic
(21) Alex Cordaz
(24) Andre Onana

Defenders

(2) Denzel Dumfries
(6) Stefan De Vrij
(8) Robin Gosens
(12) Raoul Bellanova
(15) Francesco Acerbi
(32) Federico Dimarco
(33) Danil D’Ambrosio
(36) Matteo Darmian
(37) Milan Skriniar
(46) Martia Zanotti
(47) Alessandro Fontanarosa
(95) Alessandro Bastoni

Midfielders

(5) Roberto Gagliardini
(14) Kristjan Asllani
(20) Hakan Calhanoglu
(22) Henrik Mkhitaryan
(23) Nicolo Barella
(45) Valentin Carboni
(77) Marcelo Brozovic

Attackers

(9) Edin Dzeko
(10) Lautaro Martinez
(11) Joaquin Correa
(99) Romelu Lukaku

Manager – Simone Inzaghi

Probable Inter Milan XI – (3-5-2) – GK – Onana, DC – Bastoni, DC – Acerbi, DC – Darmian, DMR – Dumfries, DML – Dimarco, MC – Brozovic, MC – Barella, AMC – Calhanoglu, AC – Martinez, AC – Dzeko

The Road to Istanbul – Manchester City

Manchester City made their second Champions League Final in three years after cruising through their group and the knockout phase showing that the bookmakers were well placed when making them pre-season favourites to win the tournament.

City were drawn into Group G along with Borussia Dortmund, FC Copenhagen and Sevilla.

Group Stage Match 1 – v Sevilla (A) – W 4-0 (Haaland 20,67, Foden 58, Dias 90+2)
Group Stage Match 2 – v B.Dortmund (H) – W 2-1 (Stones 80, Haaland 84)
Group Stage Match 3 – v Copenhagen (H) – W 5-0 (Haaland 7,32, Khocholava 39og, Mahrez 55p, Alvarez 76)
Group Stage Match 4 – v Copenhagen (A) – D 0-0
Group Stage Match 5 – v B.Dortmund (A) – D 0-0
Group Stage Match 6 – v Sevilla (H) – W 3-1 (Lewis 52, Alvarez 73, Mahrez 83)

Group C Table

Manchester City – 14pts (+12)
Borussia Dortmund – 9pts (+5)
Sevilla – 5 pts (-6)
FC Copenhagen – 3pts (-11)

By finishing top of their group, City were one of the eight Group Winners to be seeded in the Round of 16 draw and they progressed through the knockout phase as shown below.

Round of 16 1^st Leg – v RB Leipzig (A) – D 1-1 (Mahrez 27)
Round of 16 2^nd Leg – v RB Leipzig (H) – W 7-0 (Haaland 22p,24,45+2,53,57, Gundogan 49, De Bruyne 90+2)
Quarter Finals 1^st Leg – v Bayern Munich(H) – W 3-0 (Rodri 27, Silva 70, Haaland 76)
Quarter Finals 2^nd Leg – v Bayern Munich (A) – D 1-1 (Haaland 57)
Semi Finals 1^st Leg – v Real Madrid (A) – D 1-1 (De Bruyne 67)
Semi Finals 2^nd Leg – v Real Madrid (H) – W 4-0 (Silva 23,37, Akanji 76, Alvarez 90+1)

Champions League Record – Played – 12, Won – 7, Drew – 5, Lost – 0, For – 31, Against – 5

Manchester City Squad

Players squad number is shown in brackets.

Goalkeepers

(18) Stefan Ortega
(31) Ederson
(33) Scott Carson

Defenders

(2) Kyle Walker
(3) Ruben Dias
(5) John Stones
(6) Nathan Ake
(14) Aymeric Laporte
(21) Sergio Gomez
(25) Manuel Akanji
(82) Rico Lewis

Midfielders

(4) Kalvin Phillips
(8) Ilkay Gundogan
(10) Jack Grealish
(16) Rodri
(17) Kevin De Bruyne
(20) Bernardo Silba
(32) Maximo Perrone
(47) Phil Foden
(80) Cole Palmer

Attackers

(9) Erling Haaland
(19) Julio Alvarez
(26) Riyad Mahrez

Manager – Pep Guardiola

Probable Manchester City XI – (4-3-3) – GK – Ederson, DR – Walker, DL – Ake, DC – Stones, DC – Dias, DMC – Rodri, MC – Gundogan, AMC – De Bruyne, AMR – Silva, AML – Grealish, AC – Haaland

Who Will Win The 2023 UEFA Champions League Final?

With this being the first meeting between these two teams, we don’t have any direct head-to-head data to analyse, but looking at how the teams performed against Bayern Munich gives us an insight. Inter lost both games 2-0, while City drew in Munich and then won 3-0 in Manchester.

Of course you can’t read too much into that but if you look at City’s form throughout this Champions League campaign and compare it with Inter’s, it has been much smoother and they remain unbeaten conceding just five goals along the way.

For me, this is Manchester City’s final to lose, and it is easy to see why they are 2/5 at present with bet365 to win the game.

However, I’d back both teams to score and Manchester City to win which is a 21/10 shot with bet365.

bet365 SportChampions League

BET365 BONUS CODE

BETFRED BONUS CODE

SLINGO BONUS OFFER

#AD Bonus Referrer Code is an affiliate of the brands we promote throughout this site. While we strive to maintain accuracy throughout our content, we do receive compensation for this promotion.

There are tons of sites out there telling you what online sportsbook, casino or poker room they think you should play at. And we do that too. So what sets BRC apart from the typical online casino review site?