Man City is favored obviously.
Keys to an Inter upset:
1. Can their back 3 handle Halaand/DeBruyne/Gundogan without needing a midfielder to commit fulltime to marking them too. If they can that opens up possibilities all over the pitch, starting with the 3 midfielders being able to outnumber Rodri and Stones in the midfield. It's a risky strategy but i hope inzaghi tries it without dedicating a midfielder to the backline.
2. Inter's wingers should give Grealish and Silva a harder day than they've had in a while, both in covering them defensively and in using their pace and tireleness to run them back into their own half and put them on the defensive.
3. Barella has the talent to be the best midfielder on the pitch today and this year's been a bit of a breakout for him. Today would be the day to put a cherry on top of that sundae. Barella and the two wingers beating the ManCity players down the pitch to create odd man situations is something they are very good at and will have to be able to do to win this one.
3 reasons why Inter is underrated:
1. There's a bit of a misunderstanding of who Inter's best players are - it's the 3 young italians - Barella, DiMarco, Bastoni - who are leading the way all over the pitch, defensively and in attack, not the bigger name veterans on the team. I would add Lautaro in there too, though he is more just pure offensive instead of a full-field factor.
2. Everyone seems to think Inter is a pure defensive team but the truth is they only have one defense-first player on the pitch, central defender Acerbi. But all over the pitch you see attacking players playing key defensive roles - even /Darmian on the sides of the back 3 are both attack-minded players, while Calhanogu is an attacking #10 now playing in a defensive midfield role. In reality while they're not a possession team they're a team full of attackers with good feet, every one who is very comfortable running with and distributing the ball - including Onana the keeper.
3. The starters that look the most questionable for Inter - veterans Acerbi/Darmian on defense, 37yr old Dzeko in attack, Calhanoglu in a defensive midfield role, have actually all earned those spots over the quality more expensive guys who were in those roles to start the season - Skriniar and DeVrij on defense, Brozovic in the midfield, Lukaku on forward. And those guys aren actually mostly playing well recently, it;'s just the other guys have completely earned those spots ahead of them, meaning they're not really weakness at all. It also means that the current Inter team is almost completely different than the Inter team from the first half of the year, including the much different squad that had their two worst results in champions league - the two losses to Bayern.
Anyways, ManCity still the clear favorites but Inter is being mostly underrated coming in.
