The Derby della Madonnina is one of world football's most hotly-contested derbies - not least because unlike many other cross-town rivalries, AC Milan and Inter Milan share a stadium. The latest edition of this iconic clash had an added layer of importance to it - both Milan clubs had been drawn against each other in this season's Champions League semifinals.
Designated as the away team, Inter all but guaranteed themselves a spot in European football's showpiece match with a 2-0 victory over Milan in the first leg of this semifinal fixture. Both goals were scored in the opening exchanges of the match; veteran striker Edin Džeko opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Three minutes later, Henrikh Mkhitaryan's goal put Inter two ahead and ensured that the Nerazzurri would take a commanding lead into the second leg. If Inter were to finish the job in the second leg, they would enter the Champions League final for the first time since 2010 - the culmination of their iconic Treble-winning season.
Even as recently as one to two months ago, not even the most die-hard Inter fans could have realistically believed that the club would be in this position today. A Serie A campaign full of struggle has left Inter's chances of a top-four spot in a precarious position with just four matches remaining. Inter have not finished outside the top two in the league since the 2018-19 season; additionally, the last time they missed the top four and the Champions League spot that comes with it was in 2016-17.
Inter's Champions League campaign this season also got off to a slow start, barely surviving a stacked group which also contained Bayern Munich and Barcelona. This was following by a 1-0 aggregate victory over Porto in the round of 16; this victory was not exactly convincing. The same could be said of Inter's quarterfinal victory over Benfica. Yet, in spite of all of this, Inter now find themselves 90 minutes away from the Champions League final.
What's more, Inter's path to this point has not happened in the way many might have thought it would have when the season began. They had a productive off-season transfer window, adding eight players to the blue half of the San Siro including André Onana, Romelu Lukaku, Joaquín Correa, Robin Gosens, and Francesco Acerbi. However, none of their acqusitions have turned out to be among the club's top performers this season. Despite this, players such as Lautaro Martínez, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, and Nicolò Barella have stepped up and played major roles in keeping Inter's top-four league bid afloat as well as spearheading Inter's likely run to the Champions League final.
Additionally, Inter could easily have been derailed after the World Cup. Despite being part of the Argentina team which claimed a first world title in 36 years, Lautaro was clearly a net negative for the Albiceleste. One could easily make the case that his greatest contribution to Argentina's victory was his abysmal performance against Saudi Arabia which caused him to get benched in favour of Manchester City striker Julián Álvarez for the rest of the tournament. Considering this fact, there were certainly questions about Lautaro's form following his return from Qatar. However, Lautaro went on to silence the doubters by returning to his pre-World Cup form as soon as he once again put on an Inter jersey.
Inter's Champions League success so far, unlike their title run 13 years ago, hasn't even been a product of tactical brilliance. While head coach Simone Inzaghi has shown a reasonable level of competence thus far, he is not even close to the highest echelon in which his opposite number in the final - either Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti or City's Pep Guardiola - will reside.
On the whole, not a lot about Inter's Champions League run thus far makes much sense on the surface; it has been nothing less than the epitome of "taking it one match at a time" - but will that be enough in the final? Porto, Benfica, and Milan are far from the toughest possible opponents that Inter could have faced. Real or City will be on a completely different level. Conventional wisdom dictates that Inter lack the star power to win it all - but conventional wisdom has been thrown out the window with Inter on the continental stage thus far. For all we know, the biggest twist could be just around the corner.
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