After a topsy-turvy season, which was interrupted midway by the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, European football reaches its climax with its showpiece event, the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League (UCL) final, at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Saturday. On one hand are the reigning English champions and arguably the finest team in the world right now, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. On the other are three-time European champions, the unfancied but unpredictable Inter Milan of Simone Inzaghi.
Before the titans take centrestage, My Kolkata highlights the numbers that define both teams ahead of the final.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola could become the only manager in European football history to win two trebles should City come out on top
1: Pep Guardiola is the only man from both teams to have won the UCL, a feat he achieved twice as manager with Barcelona (2009 and 2011).
1: Guardiola is poised for history on Saturday. A triumph will see him become the first manager in European football history to clinch two trebles. His first one came in his first season as coach in senior football with Barcelona in 2009.
3: If Guardiola adds to his trophy cabinet in Turkey, he will join Zinedine Zidane as the second-most successful manager in UCL history, tying the Frenchman with three titles as coach. Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti leads the list with four.
4: City will become the fourth English team to be crowned kings of Europe in the UCL era (1992/93 onwards) if they can get past Inter, joining the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea. This would also see England overhaul Italy’s collection of the most number of UCL winning teams, with both currently locked on three.
5: Should City prevail, their Argentine striker Julian Alvarez will add his name to a list of illustrious players who have won the UCL and the World Cup in the same season. He would be the fifth to do so after Raphael Varane (2018), Sami Khedira (2014), Roberto Carlos (2002) and Christian Karembeu (1998). Interestingly, Alvarez would be the first to win the UCL after being crowned world champion.
Kevin De Bruyne has been the most prolific creator in the UCL this season
5: The number of times City have drawn a game in the UCL this season, with all of them coming away from the Etihad Stadium. In fact, the only time City have won on their travels in Europe came when they thrashed Sevilla 4-0 in Spain during the group stages.
6: No player has more assists in this UCL campaign than City’s midfield maestro, Kevin De Bruyne, with six.
7: The number of shots City had the last time they played in the final, limping to a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea in 2021. Should they get the same number of chances this time around, the result may well be different.
12: Erling Haaland is virtually certain to finish as the top marksman in this season’s UCL with 12 goals to his name. The Norwegian, still only in his first season at Manchester, has an eye-popping 52 goals in all competitions.
31: The total number of goals City have scored in the UCL this term, with 17 of them coming in the knockout stages.
Inter Milan
Only one player has missed more chances in the UCL this term than Lautaro Martinez
1: Inter have never met Manchester City in a competitive match before. This will be the first time the two teams square off in a meaningful game, that too for the biggest prize in European club football.
3: Inter have only let in three goals during the entirety of this season’s knockout stages, with all three coming as part of a whirlwind 3-3 second leg against Benfica in the last eight.
3: The last time an Italian team faced an English side in a UCL final in Istanbul, the Italians already had a three-goal lead by half-time. On that occasion, just like in this year’s showpiece, the Italians had an Italian manager and the English had a Spanish one. The match, in question, is the sensational 3-3 draw between Liverpool and AC Milan in 2005, which saw a miraculous comeback from the Reds to win on penalties.
4: In what is a good omen for Inter, only four out of the last 10 teams to win the UCL have won their domestic league in the same season. While City saw off Arsenal to bag the Premier League, Inter finished third, a whopping 18 points behind champions Napoli.
5: Inter, who tend to rely a lot on their wing-backs for creative impetus, will be delighted with the form of Federico Dimarco going into the final. The 25-year-old Italian has been Inter’s leading assist provider in the competition so far, setting up five goals this season.
The last time Inter were in a UCL final, Jose Mourinho masterminded them to victory against Bayern Munich in Madrid
11: If Inter can upset the apple cart in the final, it will mark the 11th consecutive time that the winning team in the UCL has featured at least one Croatian in their ranks, with midfielder Marcelo Brozovic ticking this quirky box. The run began all the way back in 2013, when Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic played and scored for Bayern Munich in a 2-1 win against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
12: Only Benfica’s Goncalo Ramos has had more shots off target in the UCL this season than Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, who has misfired as many as 12 times.
21: In the 2010 UCL final against Bayern Munich, Inter absorbed immense pressure and no less than 21 shots on goal without conceding.
28: No Inter player has scored more goals in all competitions this season than Lautaro Martinez, whose 28 strikes include three in the UCL.
100: Inter approach the final with a 100 per cent win record on the grandest stage of club football in the UCL era. Their previous final appearance saw them keep Bayern Munich at bay to wrap up a 2-0 victory in Madrid and a treble of their own under the mercurial Jose Mourinho in 2010.
