Inzaghi eyeing Champions League glory and legend status at Inter

Milan: Simone Inzaghi is on the verge of becoming a true Inter Milan great as he leads his team to the Champions League final with another chance for...

Milan: Simone Inzaghi is on the verge of becoming a true Inter Milan great as he leads his team to the Champions League final with another chance for an era-defining triumph to make up for the pain of conceding the Serie A title to Napoli.

Inter have become one of Europe’s top teams under Inzaghi and reaching the final of the continent’s leading club competition for the second time in three seasons is a testament to the impressive job he has done since taking charge in 2021.

The 48-year-old has had to navigate off-field turbulence and serious financial problems which have left Inter with a transfer budget which is a fraction of the what clubs like Saturday’s opponents Paris Saint-Germain have at their disposal.

But he will contest this weekend’s showdown with Qatari-backed PSG with potentially a better chance of winning the Champions League than he did in Istanbul in 2023, when Inter were narrowly beaten by possibly Pep Guardiola’s best-ever Manchester City team.

Last season’s league title, the first of Inzaghi’s coaching career, was immediately followed by an enforced takeover by US investment firm Oaktree after previous owners, China’s Suning, failed to repay a debt worth around 395m euros ($448m). And there was little in the way of summer investment for an ageing team which features veterans like 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is one year Acerbi’s junior.